&quot;The WALS maps are different, because, as wit...

"The WALS maps are different, because, as with Cantometrics (which that whole approach strongly resembles) we see real evidence, and on a worldwide scale. This is new and exciting and because of my experiences with Cantometrics I feel very much at home with it."

The people behind WALS, however, don't share your assumption that their maps captured traces of out of Africa or Multiregional or any other kind of migration or retention. WALS is a great endeavor, and I corresponded with Comrie at some point (too late in their process) regarding including kinship evidence in it. One recent outcome of this mapping is that there are 24 grammatical and phonological traits that are significantly better represented in the New World vs. the Old World.