Simpler grammar, larger vocabulary: How population size affects language.

ABSTRACT: Languages with many speakers tend to be structurally simple while small communities sometimes develop languages with great structural complexity. Paradoxically, the opposite pattern appears to be observed for non-structural properties of language such as vocabulary size. These apparently opposite patterns pose a challenge for theories of language change and evolution. We use computational simulations to show that this inverse pattern can depend on a single factor: ease of diffusion through the population. A population of interacting agents was arranged on a network, passing linguistic conventions to one another along network links. Agents can invent new conventions, or replicate conventions that they have previously generated themselves or learned from other agents. Linguistic conventions

SUBMITTER: Reali F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5805949 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature