Editing Lexicostatistics (section)

==Criticisms==
People such as [[Harry Hoijer|Hoijer]] (1956) have shown that there were difficulties in finding equivalents to the meaning items while many have found it necessary to modify Swadesh's lists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoijer |first1=Harry |title=Lexicostatistics: a critique |journal=Language |date=1956 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=49–60|doi=10.2307/410652 |jstor=410652 }}</ref> Gudschinsky (1956) questioned whether it was possible to obtain a universal list.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gudschinsky |first1=Sarah |title=The ABCs of lexicostatistics (glottochronology) |journal=Word |date=1956 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=175–210|doi=10.1080/00437956.1956.11659599 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Factors such as [[loanword|borrowing]], tradition and [[taboo]] can skew the results, as with other methods. Sometimes lexicostatistics has been used with [[lexical similarity]] being used rather than cognacy to find resemblances. This is then equivalent to [[mass comparison]].

The choice of meaning slots is subjective, as is the choice of [[synonym]]s.