Rate of language evolution is affected by population size

The effect of population size on patterns and rates of language evolution is controversial. Do languages with larger speaker populations change faster due to a greater capacity for innovation, or do smaller populations change faster due to more efficient diffusion of innovations? Do smaller populations suffer greater loss of language elements through founder effects or drift, or do languages with more speakers lose features due to a process of simplification? Revealing the influence of population size on the tempo and mode of language evolution not only will clarify underlying mechanisms of language change but also has practical implications for the way that language data are used to reconstruct the history of human cultures. Here, we provide, to our knowledge, the first empirical, statistically robust test of the influence of population size on rates of language evolution, controlling for the evolutionary history of the populations and formally comparing the fit of different models of language evolution. We compare rates of gain and loss of cognate words for basic vocabulary in Polynesian languages, an ideal test case with a well-defined history. We demonstrate that larger populations have higher rates of gain of new words whereas smaller populations have higher rates of word loss. These results show that demographic factors can influence rates of language evolution and that rates of gain and loss are affected differently. These findings are strikingly consistent with general predictions of evolutionary models.

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Communication as source and motivator of language evolution

Language Problems & Language Planning ◽

10.1075/lplp.27.3.04ben ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 249-268 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vilmos Benczik

Keyword(s):

Language Change ◽

Language Evolution ◽

Communication Technologies ◽

Point Of View ◽

Syntactic Complexity ◽

Linguistic Resources ◽

Human Thought ◽

The Past ◽

History Of ◽

The One

Language emerges and changes primarily through communication; therefore communication technologies play a key role in the history of language change. The most powerful communication technology from this point of view is phonetic writing, which has a double effect on language: on the one hand it impoverishes suprasegmental linguistic resources; on the other hand it evokes in language a profound and sophisticated semantic precision, and also syntactic complexity. The huge progress in abstract human thought that has taken place over the past three or four centuries has come about on the basis of these linguistic changes. Today, when writing seems to be losing its earlier hegemony over communication, the question arises as to whether this will lead to the erosion of human language, and also of human thought.

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The history of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to

Journal of Historical Linguistics ◽

10.1075/jhl.5.2.01nee ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 177-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jakob Neels

Keyword(s):

Language Change ◽

Corpus Analysis ◽

Cognitive Representation ◽

Corpus Study ◽

Time Period ◽

History Of ◽

Aspect Marker ◽

Feeding Process ◽

Discourse Frequency ◽

Underlying Mechanisms

This article is a corpus-based study on the grammaticalization of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to. It describes and seeks to explain the historical process whereby use(d) to, starting from the Middle English source construction use ‘be in the habit of’ + to + verb, grammaticalized into a habitual aspect marker with idiosyncratic morphosyntactic properties. A detailed corpus study is presented, based on four historical English corpora, which together cover a time period from 1410 to 2009. The results of the corpus analysis are interpreted within the theoretical framework of usage-based grammar, with the aim of uncovering the mechanisms that propelled the gradual grammaticalization of use(d) to on the semantic, morphological, syntactic and phonological dimensions. Among the underlying mechanisms and processes identified are semantic generalization via host-class expansion and habituation, pragmatic enrichment, analogy, chunking, loss of analyzability and internal structure, as well as phonological reduction through neuromotor automation. Supported by the quantitative empirical evidence from the corpus analysis and drawing on findings from usage-based research on language change, the present study depicts the grammaticalization of use(d) to as a self-feeding process driven by frequency effects, i.e. by the effects that the increasingly high discourse frequency of the use(d) to construction had on its cognitive representation.

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Update on the Boundaries of the Curly Birch Range

Lesnoy Zhurnal (Forestry Journal) ◽

10.37482/0536-1036-2020-6-9-21 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 9-21

Author(s):

L.V. Vetchinnikova ◽

◽

A.F. Titov ◽

◽

Keyword(s):

Population Size ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Forest Tree ◽

Published Data ◽

Population Approach ◽

Key Factors ◽

History Of ◽

Individual Trees ◽

Karelian Birch

The article reports on the application of the best known principles for mapping natural populations of curly (Karelian) birch Betula pendula Roth var. carelica (Mercklin) Hämet-Ahti – one of the most appealing representatives of the forest tree flora. Relying on the synthesis and analysis of the published data amassed over nearly 100 years and the data from own full-scale studies done in the past few decades almost throughout the area where curly birch has grown naturally, it is concluded that its range outlined in the middle of the 20th century and since then hardly revised is outdated. The key factors and reasons necessitating its revision are specified. Herewith it is suggested that the range is delineated using the population approach, and the key element will be the critical population size below which the population is no longer viable in the long term. This approach implies that the boundaries of the taxon range depend on the boundaries of local populations (rather than the locations of individual trees or small clumps of trees), the size of which should not be lower than the critical value, which is supposed to be around 100–500 trees for curly birch. A schematic map of the curly birch range delineated using this approach is provided. We specially address the problem of determining the minimum population size to secure genetic diversity maintenance. The advantages of the population approach to delineating the distribution range of curly birch with regard to its biological features are highlighted. The authors argue that it enables a more accurate delineation of the range; shows the natural evolutionary history of the taxon (although it is not yet officially recognized as a species) and its range; can be relatively easily updated (e.g. depending on the scope of reintroduction); should be taken into account when working on the strategy of conservation and other actions designed to maintain and regenerate this unique representative of the forest tree flora.

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Scales and Units

10.1093/oso/9780190657543.003.0011 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Kathryn M. de Luna

Keyword(s):

Language Change ◽

Historical Linguistics ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

The North ◽

First Case ◽

Linguistic Evidence ◽

River Region ◽

History Of ◽

Alternative Approaches

This chapter uses two case studies to explore how historians study language movement and change through comparative historical linguistics. The first case study stands as a short chapter in the larger history of the expansion of Bantu languages across eastern, central, and southern Africa. It focuses on the expansion of proto-Kafue, ca. 950–1250, from a linguistic homeland in the middle Kafue River region to lands beyond the Lukanga swamps to the north and the Zambezi River to the south. This expansion was made possible by a dramatic reconfiguration of ties of kinship. The second case study explores linguistic evidence for ridicule along the Lozi-Botatwe frontier in the mid- to late 19th century. Significantly, the units and scales of language movement and change in precolonial periods rendered visible through comparative historical linguistics bring to our attention alternative approaches to language change and movement in contemporary Africa.

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Is there enough star formation in simulated protoclusters?

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa3693 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 501 (2) ◽

pp. 1803-1822

Author(s):

Seunghwan Lim ◽

Douglas Scott ◽

Arif Babul ◽

David J Barnes ◽

Scott T Kay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Galaxy Formation ◽

Star Formation History ◽

Test Case ◽

Numerical Resolution ◽

Formation History ◽

Order Of Magnitude ◽

History Of ◽

Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽

Formation Efficiency

ABSTRACT As progenitors of the most massive objects, protoclusters are key to tracing the evolution and star formation history of the Universe, and are responsible for ${\gtrsim }\, 20$ per cent of the cosmic star formation at $z\, {\gt }\, 2$. Using a combination of state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations and empirical models, we show that current galaxy formation models do not produce enough star formation in protoclusters to match observations. We find that the star formation rates (SFRs) predicted from the models are an order of magnitude lower than what is seen in observations, despite the relatively good agreement found for their mass-accretion histories, specifically that they lie on an evolutionary path to become Coma-like clusters at $z\, {\simeq }\, 0$. Using a well-studied protocluster core at $z\, {=}\, 4.3$ as a test case, we find that star formation efficiency of protocluster galaxies is higher than predicted by the models. We show that a large part of the discrepancy can be attributed to a dependence of SFR on the numerical resolution of the simulations, with a roughly factor of 3 drop in SFR when the spatial resolution decreases by a factor of 4. We also present predictions up to $z\, {\simeq }\, 7$. Compared to lower redshifts, we find that centrals (the most massive member galaxies) are more distinct from the other galaxies, while protocluster galaxies are less distinct from field galaxies. All these results suggest that, as a rare and extreme population at high z, protoclusters can help constrain galaxy formation models tuned to match the average population at $z\, {\simeq }\, 0$.

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The FATE Landscape of Sign Language AI Datasets

ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing ◽

10.1145/3436996 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 1-45

Author(s):

Danielle Bragg ◽

Naomi Caselli ◽

Julie A. Hochgesang ◽

Matt Huenerfauth ◽

Leah Katz-Hernandez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sign Language ◽

New Technology ◽

Individual Data ◽

Community Members ◽

Sign Languages ◽

Language Data ◽

History Of ◽

Language Technologies ◽

And Storage ◽

Access Mechanisms

Sign language datasets are essential to developing many sign language technologies. In particular, datasets are required for training artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems. Though the idea of using AI/ML for sign languages is not new, technology has now advanced to a point where developing such sign language technologies is becoming increasingly tractable. This critical juncture provides an opportunity to be thoughtful about an array of Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE) considerations. Sign language datasets typically contain recordings of people signing, which is highly personal. The rights and responsibilities of the parties involved in data collection and storage are also complex and involve individual data contributors, data collectors or owners, and data users who may interact through a variety of exchange and access mechanisms. Deaf community members (and signers, more generally) are also central stakeholders in any end applications of sign language data. The centrality of sign language to deaf culture identity, coupled with a history of oppression, makes usage by technologists particularly sensitive. This piece presents many of these issues that characterize working with sign language AI datasets, based on the authors’ experiences living, working, and studying in this space.

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“Liberating the Small Devils”: Red Guard Newspapers and Radical Publics, 1966–1968

The China Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0305741021000424 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 246 ◽

pp. 354-373

Author(s):

Nicolai Volland

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

Cultural Revolution ◽

Early Research ◽

Test Case ◽

The Public ◽

The Press ◽

History Of ◽

Red Guard ◽

And Function ◽

Chinese Public

AbstractRed Guard newspapers and pamphlets (wenge xiaobao) were a key source for early research on the Cultural Revolution, but they have rarely been analysed in their own right. How did these publications regard their status and function within the larger information ecosystem of the People's Republic, and what is their role in the history of the modern Chinese public sphere? This article focuses on a particular subset of Red Guard papers, namely those published by radical groups within the PRC's press and publication system. These newspapers critiqued the pre-Cultural Revolution press and reflected upon the possible futures of a new, revolutionary Chinese press. Short-lived as these experiments were, they constitute a test case to re-examine the functioning of the public in a decidedly “uncivil” polity. Ultimately, they point to the ambiguous potential of the public for both consensus and conflict, liberation and repression, which characterizes the press in 20th-century China.

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Interrogating the Egypto-Sudanic Arabic Connection

Languages ◽

10.3390/languages6030123 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 123

Author(s):

Thomas A. Leddy-Cecere

Keyword(s):

The Novel ◽

Present Contribution ◽

Phonological Processes ◽

Verbal Inflection ◽

Segmental Phonology ◽

Language Data ◽

History Of ◽

Novel Method ◽

Dialect Classification ◽

Arabic Speaking

The Arabic dialectology literature repeatedly asserts the existence of a macro-level classificatory relationship binding the Arabic speech varieties of the combined Egypto-Sudanic area. This proposal, though oft-encountered, has not previously been formulated in reference to extensive linguistic criteria, but is instead framed primarily on the nonlinguistic premise of historical demographic and genealogical relationships joining the Arabic-speaking communities of the region. The present contribution provides a linguistically based evaluation of this proposed dialectal grouping, to assess whether the postulated dialectal unity is meaningfully borne out by available language data. Isoglosses from the domains of segmental phonology, phonological processes, pronominal morphology, verbal inflection, and syntax are analyzed across six dialects representing Arabic speech in the region. These are shown to offer minimal support for a unified Egypto-Sudanic dialect classification, but instead to indicate a significant north–south differentiation within the sample—a finding further qualified via application of the novel method of Historical Glottometry developed by François and Kalyan. The investigation concludes with reflection on the implications of these results on the understandings of the correspondence between linguistic and human genealogical relationships in the history of Arabic and in dialectological practice more broadly.

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Word Order in Old and Middle English

Diachronica ◽

10.1075/dia.26.1.03wes ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 65-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Marit Westergaard

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Middle English ◽

Word Order ◽

Information Structure ◽

Extended Version ◽

Major Parameter ◽

Language Data ◽

Gradual Development ◽

History Of ◽

Mixed Systems

In the history of English one finds a mixture of V2 and non-V2 word order in declaratives for several hundred years, with frequencies suggesting a relatively gradual development in the direction of non-V2. Within an extended version of a cue-based approach to acquisition and change, this paper argues that there are many possible V2 grammars, differing from each other with respect to clause types, information structure, and the behavior of specific lexical elements. This variation may be formulated in terms of micro-cues. Child language data from present-day mixed systems show that such grammars are acquired early. The apparent optionality of V2 in the history of English may thus be considered to represent several different V2 grammars in succession, and it is not necessary to refer to competition between two major parameter settings. Diachronic language development can thus be argued to occur in small steps, reflecting the loss of micro-cues, and giving the impression that change is gradual.

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