An Application of an Analogue of the Partition Function to the Evolution of Diglossia

John Wyburn; John Hayward

doi:10.1016/j.physa.2018.10.047

An Application of an Analogue of the Partition Function to the Evolution of Diglossia

John Wyburn, John Hayward

Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science

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Abstract

Recent trends in the numbers of minority language speakers have given cause for concern as to the effectiveness of traditional language-acquisition and survival strategies. This paper addresses the establishment of a recognized survival scenario, that of diglossia, the allocation of different languages to complementary social domains. The method is the novel application of an analogue of the partition function of statistical mechanics, embodied in a cellular automaton, to a population of subsets of social domains in which either of two languages may be spoken. The case of modern Wales is discussed in detail. Conclusions are drawn regarding the role of diglossia in the preservation of endangered languages.

Original language	English
Article number	PHYSA-181577
Pages (from-to)	447-463
Journal	Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
Volume	516
Early online date	30 Oct 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2018.10.047
Publication status	Published - 15 Feb 2019

Keywords

Language shift
bilingualism
language dynamics
partition function
cellular automaton
language group dynamics
quantitative linguistics

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10.1016/j.physa.2018.10.047

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Cite this

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abstract = "Recent trends in the numbers of minority language speakers have given cause for concern as to the effectiveness of traditional language-acquisition and survival strategies. This paper addresses the establishment of a recognized survival scenario, that of diglossia, the allocation of different languages to complementary social domains. The method is the novel application of an analogue of the partition function of statistical mechanics, embodied in a cellular automaton, to a population of subsets of social domains in which either of two languages may be spoken. The case of modern Wales is discussed in detail. Conclusions are drawn regarding the role of diglossia in the preservation of endangered languages.",

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AU - Hayward, John

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KW - bilingualism

KW - language dynamics

KW - partition function

KW - cellular automaton

KW - language group dynamics

KW - quantitative linguistics

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JO - Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications

JF - Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications

M1 - PHYSA-181577

ER -

An Application of an Analogue of the Partition Function to the Evolution of Diglossia

Abstract

Keywords

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