Lucía Loureiro-Porto

Modelling language competition: bilingualism and complex social networks

8 pages, 2 figures.-- En: The evolution of language; Proceedings of the 7th International Conference (EVOLANG7), Barcelona 2008. Eds. A.D.M. Smith, K. Smith, R. Ferrer-Cancho.

The Fate of Bilingualism in a Model of Language Competition

In the general context of dynamics of social consensus, we study an agent based model for the competition between two socially equivalent languages, addressing the role of bilingualism and social structure. In a regular network, we study the formation of linguistic domains and their interaction across the boundaries. We analyse also a small world social structure, in order to capture the effect of long range social interactions. In both cases, a final scenario of dominance of one language and extinction of the other is obtained, but with smaller times for extinction in the latter case. In addition, we compare our results to our previous work on the agent based version of Abrams-Strogatz model.

Agent-based models of language competition

Abstract This article uses computer simulations as a means of assessing two different models for the competition between two languages from the interdisciplinary perspective of complex systems. These models allow for the analysis of the role of bilingual speakers and they consider two of the basic factors determining the use of each language: their relative prestige and the language loyalty of their speakers. Here we assess the effect of these parameters in different social networks, with the aim of contributing to the understanding of the role of bilingualism and social networks in processes of language contact. We first present a qualitative analysis based on a simulation tool that we have designed, in order to visualize the dynamics of the models. Secondly, we consider a qualitative analysis of the role of complex networks, identifying mechanisms for the rapid extinction of a language and for situations of language segregation. Finally, we present a quantitative analysis which shows, counter-intuitively, a transition from a final scenario of language maintenance to one of language shift as language loyalty increases. Other findings are: (i) that the scenario of language coexistence is reduced in the presence of bilingual agents; and (ii) that networks which allow for local effects reduce further the situations for which language maintenance is possible.

Viability and Resilience in the Dynamics of Language Competition

The study of language dynamics has been addressed from at least three different perspectives: language evolution (or how the structure of language evolves), language cognition (or the way in which the human brain processes linguistic knowledge), and language competition (or the dynamics of language use in multilingual communities). The latter is the approach followed in this chapter in which, therefore, we focus on problems of social interactions. We aim to contribute to the study of the complex phenomenon of language survival (viability), thoroughly studied in linguistics, from the perspective of pattern resilience.

Mapping the Americanization of English in space and time

As global political preeminence gradually shifted from the United Kingdom to the United States, so did the capacity to culturally influence the rest of the world. In this work, we analyze how the world-wide varieties of written English are evolving. We study both the spatial and temporal variations of vocabulary and spelling of English using a large corpus of geolocated tweets and the Google Books datasets corresponding to books published in the US and the UK. The advantage of our approach is that we can address both standard written language (Google Books) and the more colloquial forms of microblogging messages (Twitter). We find that American English is the dominant form of English outside the UK and that its influence is felt even within the UK borders. Finally, we analyze how this trend has evolved over time and the impact that some cultural events have had in shaping it.As global political preeminence gradually shifted from the United Kingdom to the United States, so did the capacity to culturally influence the rest of the world. In this work, we analyze how the world-wide varieties of written English are evolving. We study both the spatial and temporal variations of vocabulary and spelling of English using a large corpus of geolocated tweets and the Google Books datasets corresponding to books published in the US and the UK. The advantage of our approach is that we can address both standard written language (Google Books) and the more colloquial forms of microblogging messages (Twitter). We find that American English is the dominant form of English outside the UK and that its influence is felt even within the UK borders. Finally, we analyze how this trend has evolved over time and the impact that some cultural events have had in shaping it.

Mathematical models meet linguistic data and vice versa: an introduction to this special issue

Linguistics in the 21st century is faced with a series of methodological innovations that have opened up new ways of describing language: experimental methods allow us to measure the activity of the human brain and to relate this activity to linguistic behavior and ability (Bornkessel-Schlesewsky and Schlesewsky 2009); new discoveries in genetics and in evolutionary biology show how certain genes play crucial roles in our language faculty and allow for a more precise definition of the moment when human language emerged (e.g. Benitez-Burraco et al. 2008); and the analysis of large amounts of data allow for the modeling of linguistic phenomena on a scale impossible to achieve in the past (e.g. Kohler 2012). Surprisingly, many of these innovations have emerged outside the discipline itself. Articles on linguistic issues are now being published in journals such as Nature, Science and Physica A by authors who work in the fields of statistical physics, evolutionary biology, cybernetics and mathematics. The reaction of “genuine” linguists, theoretical and empirical, is often rather skeptical and frequently leads to such studies being viewed with suspicion, or rejected altogether. And indeed, a general tendency in current “scientific” approaches to linguistics is to concentrate principally on the method and to impress with sophisticated experiments or quantitative analysis. However methodologically convincing, though, these studies sometimes belie shortcomings of both an empirical and a theoretical nature. This general observation also holds true for sociolinguistics and for the sociology of language, where a considerable number of recent studies have been published with exciting new proposals on the possibility of modeling individual behavior in a social context and on visualizations of phenomena such as language shift, language change and language death. Of course, as with any other scientific discipline, sociolinguistics has always dealt with models: models of so cietal stratification, models that link social constellations to linguistic attitudes and linguistic behavior, and even quantitative models that establish correlations

Language Choice in a Multilingual Society: A View from Complexity Science

In addition, for financial support, Lucia Loureiro-Porto thanks the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund (grant FFI2011-26693-C02-02), while Maxi San Miguel acknowledges financial support from FEDER and MINECO (Spain) under project FIS2012-30634.

A Review of Early English Impersonals: Evidence from Necessity Verbs

Early English impersonals have been the subject of numerous studies, and many systems of classification have been proposed, as well as theories on their evolution into personal constructions. Jespersens (1927) theory of reanalysis of the preposed dative experiencer into a nominative subject (from þam cynge licodon peran to the king liked pears) has been defended and rejected in roughly equal measure since it was first published. The present study will contrast Jespersens theory with that of Allen (1995), testing both against data on necessity verbs such as þurfan, need, behove and mister. A 4.1 million-word corpus is used which includes the Helsinki Corpus plus a random selection of texts from the Dictionary of Old English Corpus, the Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, the Lampeter Corpus and the Corpus of Early English Correspondence Sampler. Findings suggest that while reanalysis does account for the evolution of some lexemes, others require the examination of linguistic features that fall outside the scope of this kind of syntactic change.