A bifurcation threshold for contact-induced language change
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22130740 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Henri Kauhanen (0000-0002-6743-5100, University of Konstanz, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2022-09-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Glossa a journal of general linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2397-1835 • E-ISSN: 2397-1835 |
| Publisher | Open Library of the Humanities (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.16995/glossa.8211 |
| OpenAlex | W4292231089 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 44 |
One proposed mechanism of language change concerns the role played by second-language (L2) learners in situations of language contact. If sufficiently many L2 speakers are present in a speech community in relation to the number of first-language (L1) speakers, then those features which present a difficulty in L2 acquisition may be prone to disappearing from the language. This paper presents a mathematical account of such contact situations based on a stochastic model of learning and nonlinear population dynamics. The equilibria of a deterministic reduction of the model, describing a mixed population of L1 and L2 speakers, are fully characterized. Whether or not the language changes in response to the introduction of L2 learners turns out to depend on three factors: the overall proportion of L2 learners in the population, the strength of the difficulty speakers face in acquiring the language as an L2, and the language-internal utilities of the competing linguistic variants. These factors are related by a mathematical formula describing a phase transition from retention of the L2-difficult feature to its loss from both speaker populations. This supplies predictions that can be tested against empirical data. Here, the model is evaluated with the help of two case studies, morphological levelling in Afrikaans and the erosion of null subjects in Afro-Peruvian Spanish; the model is found to be broadly in agreement with the historical development in both cases
Cognitive psychology · Comprehension approach · Language acquisition · Language change · Language transfer · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Natural language · Population · Second-language acquisition · Sociology · Computer Science · Language and cultural evolution · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence
Stochastic models for learning.
The Acquisition of Spanish
Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men?
The determinants of diachronic stability
Linguistic system and sociolinguistic environment as competing factors in linguistic variation
Variational learning in L2
Afro-Peruvian Spanish in the context of Spanish Creole Genesis
Complexity as L2-difficulty
Mathematical Models of Social Evolution
Knowledge and Learning in Natural Language
Languages with More Second Language Learners Tend to Lose Nominal Case
Lords of the Land
The Peruvian Population Census of 1725–1740
What Makes Learning Second‐Language Grammar Difficult? A Review of Issues
Reflexes of grammar in patterns of language change
Agreement syncretization and the loss of null subjects
Internal and external forces in language change
Null anaphora in Spanish second language acquisition
Input and competing grammars in L2 syntax
Deriving the Constant Rate Effect
Neutral change
Setting parametric limits on dialectal variation in Spanish
The African slave in Colonial Peru, 1524-1650
Internal and external interfaces in bilingual language development
L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model
Afro-Peruvian Spanish
Sociolinguistic Aspects of Foreigner Talk
Centers and peripheries
The diachronic consequences of first and second language acquisition
On the shaping of South African society
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |