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Modeling Language Shift

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Diffusive Spreading in Nature, Technology and Society

Abstract

Languages behave similarly to living species. They display diversity, differentiate in space and time, emerge and disappear. While processes of differentiation happen at a relatively slow rate with a typical timescale of the order of 1,000 years to evolve into different languages, language extinction takes place at a substantially faster rate. Most recent language extinction events are caused by language shift rather than by extinction of the population speaking this language. After providing an overview of the recent literature on modeling language shift with special emphasis on spatial dynamics, the chapter introduces a diffusion-reaction approach and illustrates its usefulness for questions related to revitalization efforts. This approach is, in conclusion, applied to the English-Gaelic language shift situation in Western Scotland and demonstrates what kind of information can be obtained from mathematical modeling efforts.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Anne Kandler

  2. Technische Universität Chemnitz, Straße der Nationen 62, 09111, Chemnitz, Germany

    Roman Unger

Authors
  1. Anne Kandler
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  2. Roman Unger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anne Kandler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen Institut für Theoretische Physik, Gießen, Germany

    Armin Bunde

  2. Inst. für Physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie, Leibniz-Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Jürgen Caro

  3. Institut für Experimentalphysik I, Universität Leipzig Institut für Experimentalphysik I, Leipzig, Germany

    Jörg Kärger

  4. Inst. für Festkörperphysik, Universität Wien, Wien, Austria

    Gero Vogl

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Kandler, A., Unger, R. (2018). Modeling Language Shift. In: Bunde, A., Caro, J., Kärger, J., Vogl, G. (eds) Diffusive Spreading in Nature, Technology and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67798-9_18

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