Hermann Ackermann, Wolfram Ziegler
Audra Ames, Sara Wielandt, Dianne Cameron, Stan Kuczaj
David Ardell, Noelle Anderson, Bodo Winter
Rie Asano, Edward Ruoyang Shi
Mark Atkinson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Andreas Baumann, Christina Prömer, Kamil Kazmierski, Nikolaus Ritt
Christian Bentz
Aleksandrs Berdicevskis, Hanne Eckhoff
Richard A. Blythe, Alistair H. Jones, Jessica Renton
Cedric Boeckx, Constantina Theofanopoulou, Antonio Benítez-Burraco
Megan Broadway, Jamie Klaus, Billie Serafin, Heidi Lyn
Jon W. Carr, Kenny Smith, Hannah Cornish, Simon Kirby
Federica Cavicchio, Livnat Leemor, Simone Shamay-Tsoory, Wendy Sandler
Zanna Clay, Jahmaira Archbold, Klaus Zuberbuhler
Katie Collier, Andrew N. Radford, Balthasar Bickel, Marta B. Manser, Simon W. Townsend
Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby, Marieke Schouwstra
Christine Cuskley, Vittorio Loreto
Christine Cuskley, Bernardo Monechi, Pietro Gravino, Vittorio Loreto
Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Sabrina Engesser, Amanda R. Ridley, Simon W. Townsend
Dankmar Enke, Roland Mühlenbernd, Igor Yanovich
Kerem Eryilmaz, Hannah Little, Bart de Boer
Nicolas Fay, Shane Rogers
Maryia Fedzechkina, Becky Chu, T. Florian Jaeger, John Trueswell
Olga Feher, Kenny Smith, Elizabeth Wonnacott, Nikolaus Ritt
Piera Filippi, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Daniel Liu Bowling, Larissa Heege, Albert Newen, Onur Güntürkün, Bart de Boer
Piera Filippi, Jenna V. Congdon, John Hoang, Daniel Liu Bowling, Stephan Reber, Andrius Pašukonis, Marisa Hoeschele, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Bart de Boer, Christopher B. Sturdy, Albert Newen, Onur GÜntÜrkÜn
Molly Flaherty, Katelyn Stangl, Susan Goldin-Meadow
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Victor Gay, Daniel Hicks, Estefania Santacreu-Vasut
Andreea Geambasu, Michelle J. Spierings, Carel ten Cate, Clara C. Levelt
Matt Hall, Russell Richie, Marie Coppola
Stefan Hartmann, Peeter Tinits, Jonas Nölle, Thomas Hartmann, Michael Pleyer
Wolfram Hinzen, Joana Rosselló
Rick Janssen, Bodo Winter, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik, Sean Roberts
Rick Janssen, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Jasmeen Kanwal, Kenny Smith, Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby
Deborah Kerr, Kenny Smith
Buddhamas Kriengwatana, Paola Escudero, Anne Kerkhoven, Carel ten Cate
Adriano Lameira, Jeremy Kendal, Marco Gamba
Molly Lewis, Michael C. Frank
Casey Lister, Tiarn Burtenshaw, Nicolas Fay, Bradley Walker, Jeneva Ohan
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Giuseppe Longobardi, Armin Buch, Andrea Ceolin, Aaron Ecay, Cristina Guardiano, Monica Irimia, Dimitris Michelioudakis, Nina Radkevich, Gerhard Jaeger
Heidi Lyn, Stephanie Jett, Megan Broadway, Mystera Samuelson
Michael Mcloughlin, Luca Lamoni, Ellen Garland, Simon Ingram, Alexis Kirke, Michael Noad, Luke Rendell, Eduardo Miranda
Adrien Meguerditchian, Damien Marie, Konstantina Margiotoudi, Scott A. Love, Alice Bertello, Romain Lacoste, Muriel Roth, Bruno Nazarian, Jean-Luc Anton, Olivier Coulon
Jérôme Michaud
Ashley Micklos
Marie Montant, Johannes Ziegler, Benny Briesemeister, Tila Brink, Bruno Wicker, Aurélie Ponz, Mireille Bonnard, Arthur Jacobs, Mario Braun
Yasamin Motamedi, Marieke Schouwstra, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Roland Mühlenbernd, Johannes Wahle
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya
Savithry Namboodiripad, Daniel Lenzen, Ryan Lepic, Tessa Verhoef
Alan Nielsen, Dieuwke Hupkes, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Bill Noble, Raquel Fernández
Irene M. Pepperberg, Katia Zilber-Izhar, Scott Smith
Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan, Bodo Winter, Dominic Massaro
Ljiljana Progovac
Andrea Ravignani, Tania Delgado, Simon Kirby
Terry Regier, Alexandra Carstensen, Charles Kemp
Lilia Rissman, Laura Horton, Molly Flaherty, Marie Coppola, Annie Senghas, Diane Brentari, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Gareth Roberts, Mariya Fedzechkina
Carmen Saldana, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Carlos Santana
William Schueller, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Catriona Silvey, Christos Christodoulopoulos
Katie Slocombe, Stuart Watson, Anne Schel, Claudia Wilke, Emma Wallace, Leveda Cheng, Victoria West, Simon Townsend
Ruth Sonnweber, Andrea Ravignani
Michelle Spierings, Carel ten Cate
Kevin Stadler, Elyse Jamieson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Monica Tamariz, Joleana Shurley
Monica Tamariz, Jon W. Carr
Bill Thompson, Heikki Rasilo
Oksana Tkachman, Carla L. Hudson Kam
Simon Townsend, Andrew Russell, Sabrina Engesser
Francesca Tria, Vittorio Loreto, Vito Servedio, S. Mufwene Salikoko
Anu Vastenius, Jordan Zlatev, Joost Van de Weijer
Tessa Verhoef, Carol Padden, Simon Kirby
Slawomir Wacewicz, Przemyslaw Zywiczynski, Arkadiusz Jasinski
Bodo Winter, David Ardell
Bodo Winter, Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan
Marieke Woensdregt, Kenny Smith, Chris Cummins, Simon Kirby
Eva Zehentner, Andreas Baumann, Nikolaus Ritt, Christina Prömer
Keywords: agent-based model, language change, language shift, language contact, Portuguese, Mozambique
Short description: We build an agent-based model of how language changes due to an influx of new speakers and test its predictions using data on Mozambican Portuguese.
Abstract:
Language shift is widely believed to accelerate change in the target language, an effect which is generally attributed to innovations introduced by new speakers during the second language acquisition (SLA) process (Thomason & Kaufman, 1988). If this hypothesis is correct, then the rate of contact-induced language change in a language shift context should be related to the rate at which second language (L2) speakers enter the population. Unfortunately, little diachronic data exists to test this hypothesis. The aim of the present paper is to model the mechanism that makes SLA accelerate language change on a population level and compare its predictions to a rare diachronic data set from the ongoing language shift in Maputo, Mozambique.
To model linguistic interaction, we adapted Jansson et al.’s model of creole formation (Jansson et al. 2015). At each time step, all speakers met in pairwise interactions and chose to utter one of n variants of a linguistic feature based on their probability distribution of usage. Each agent then modified their distribution of usage based on what they heard by using a linear updating rule with parameter l. After a round of interactions, population turnover occurred with some individuals dying and new L1 and L2 speakers entering the population with rates b and r, respectively. Newborn L1s chose two linguistic `parents’ at random and averaged their usage distributions to initialize their own. L2 individuals started with the population mean frequencies of usage. However, with probability μ, a newly recruited L2 speaker could assign all the probability mass to a `mutant’ variant. We explored the general behavior of the model in both fixed and expanding populations for 100 years, with 365 rounds of interaction per year. We then ran a specific set of runs parameterized by demographic data (number of L1 and L2 speakers) from Maputo over a thirty-two year period (1975-2007). We compared our model runs with diachronic data on innovative preposition use and reduced verbal morphology in Maputo Portuguese from two time points (1993 & 2007), presuming that the use of the innovative forms was zero in 1975, as the spread of Portuguese through massive L2 acquisition started only after this year. The datasets comprehend 12 hours of recordings with 20 participants in similar circumstances from each time point, where variation between innovative and conservative forms is quantified.
As predicted, our results show that the rate of increase in usage of the novel variant was most strongly dependent on the rate at which L2 speakers entered the population, r, as well as the mutation rate, μ. In the Maputo runs, however, our data points did not fall within the 95% confidence intervals of any of our parameter groupings. We then modified the model to allow the L2 speakers to continue to introduce variation for the first five years they were in the population, to represent the fact that the SLA process occurs over time. Using the same criterion we found agreement between the simulation and the preposition data, while the verb data continued to diverge from model predictions. Importantly, our model assumed neutral evolution of the linguistic features. The departure of the verb data from our model predictions may indicate the presence of selection pressures or biases, for instance, the new verb forms being more economical.
Agent-based models have been successfully used in the field of cultural language evolution for explaining the emergence of linguistic structure (e.g. Kirby 2001), whereas change in already established structures seems to be more difficult to account for. Recent theoretical papers (Blythe & Croft, 2012; Pierrehumbert et al., 2014) have aimed at modeling the propagation of a single innovation (introduced by one speaker) in a population, thus accounting for language change with no pressure from contact. In these models, conditions such as biases and/or innovator network position, are required for the novel variant to be successful. Our simulations demonstrate how with minimal assumptions novel variants can be introduced and spread in a population, due to multiple introductions by different individuals. We thus suggest that this may be a basic typological difference between contact-induced and non-contact-induced language change, which would explain how SLA may increase language change in shift situations.
Citation:
Jon-And A. and Aguilar E. (2016). Modeling Language Change Triggered By Language Shift. In S.G. Roberts, C. Cuskley, L. McCrohon, L. Barceló-Coblijn, O. Fehér & T. Verhoef (eds.) The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference (EVOLANG11). Available online: http://evolang.org/neworleans/papers/156.html