Demography and language competition.
Attempts to describe language competition and extinction in a mathematical way have enjoyed increased popularity recently. In this paper I review recent modeling approaches and, based on these findings, propose a model of reaction-diffusion type. I analyze the dynamics of interactions of a population with two monolingual groups and a group that is bilingual in these two languages. The results show that demographic factors, such as population growth or population dispersal, play an important role in the competition dynamic. Furthermore, I consider the impact of two strategies for language maintenance: adjusting the status of the endangered language and adjusting the availability of monolingual and bilingual educational resources.
Kandler
Anne
A
AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
D003468:Cultural Evolution; D003469:Culture; D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008037:Linguistics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D011157:Population Dynamics