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Language competition in a population of migrating agents
Dorota Lipowska1, Adam Lipowski2
1Faculty of Modern Languages and Literature, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
Physical Review. E
|June 17, 2017
Summary
Migration influences language formation. A Naming Game model shows that migrating agents favor low-mobility languages, leading to the elimination of high-mobility languages and slower language evolution. Settlers' languages are favored over nomadic ones.
Area of Science:
- Computational Social Science
- Linguistics
- Sociology
Background:
- Migration significantly impacts human societies, including language evolution.
- Understanding the interplay between migration and language dynamics is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mutual interaction between migration and language formation using a computational model.
- To analyze how agent mobility affects language dynamics and competition.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a Naming Game model with migrating agents.
- Simulated language formation dynamics under varying mobility patterns.
Main Results:
- The model demonstrated the formation of low-mobility clusters.
- Low-mobility languages were favored, leading to the gradual elimination of high-mobility languages.
- The overall pace of language formation slowed down considerably.
Conclusions:
- Agent mobility asymmetry favors low-mobility languages in the Naming Game.
- Settlers' languages are favored over nomadic languages in this model.
- The findings suggest migration patterns can influence language competition and evolution.
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