Table 3 Phylogenetic terms in pattern evolution research, including scriptinformatics

Distance (in general, dissimilarity)

It is the dissimilarity of two objects. In a broader sense, distance has the same meaning as dissimilarity (e.g. it is used this way in the expression ‘distance-based phylogenetic inference method’, see below), but in a narrower sense only the dissimilarity can be called distance, in a mathematical sense it is metric, and it satisfies—among other conditions—the so-called triangle inequality; see Eq. (3) below

Feature

It is used to describe a pattern system. Features can be symbols, syntax and layout rules

Feature state

The specific value of a particular feature

Object

In multivariate analysis, the examined entities are objects. In pattern evolution research, an object can be, e.g. a taxon or a graph sequence. In the present analysis, objects are scripts or inscriptions. Features can describe these objects

Taxon

In phylogenetics, the examined entities are taxa, a specific object type. In the present research, a script can be a taxon. Typically, the leaves or internal nodes of a phylogenetic tree

Phylogeny

The history of the evolution of an object (species or any evolutionary object). A phylogenetic tree or network can represent it

Phylogenetic tree

The result of phylogenetic analysis when this result is not a reticulation (i.e., not a phylogenetic network). Its versions include additive tree and ultrametric tree

Branch length

It represents the evolution between each node on the tree and the number of changes in feature states

Additive tree

Its alternative name is phylogram. Here, the branches on the tree and the branch lengths are informative

Ultrametric tree

An additive tree can be rooted so that all paths from the root to a leaf have the same length; it describes times of divergence