Modeling language evolution and feature dynamics in a realistic geographic environment

Abstract

Recent, innovative efforts to understand the uneven distribution of languages and linguistic feature values in time and space attest to both the challenge these issues pose and the value in solving them. In this paper, we introduce a model for simulating languages and their features over time in a realistic geographic environment. At its core is a model of language phylogeny and migration whose parameters are chosen to reproduce known language family sizes and geographic dispersions. This foundation in turn is used to explore the dynamics of linguistic features. Languages are assigned feature values that can change randomly or under the influence of nearby languages according to predetermined probabilities. We assess the effects of these settings on resulting geographic and genealogical patterns using homogeneity measures defined in the literature. The resulting model is both flexible and realistic, and it can be employed to answer a wide range of related questions.