Frequency patterns of semantic change: corpus-based evidence of a near-critical dynamics in language change.

ABSTRACT: It is generally believed that when a linguistic item acquires a new meaning, its overall frequency of use rises with time with an S-shaped growth curve. Yet, this claim has only been supported by a limited number of case studies. In this paper, we provide the first corpus-based large-scale confirmation of the S-curve in language change. Moreover, we uncover another generic pattern, a latency phase preceding the S-growth, during which the frequency remains close to constant. We propose a usage-based model which predicts both phases, the latency and the S-growth. The driving mechanism is a random walk in the space of frequency of use. The underlying deterministic dynamics highlights the role of a control parameter which tunes the system at the vicinity of a saddle-node bifurcation. In the ne

SUBMITTER: Feltgen Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5717648 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature