Modeling interactions between language evolution and demography.
In this article I provide a review of studies that have modeled interactions between language evolution and demographic processes. The models are classified in terms of three different approaches: analytical modeling, agent-based analytical modeling, and agent-based cognitive modeling. I show that these approaches differ in the complexity of interactions that they can handle and that the agent-based cognitive models allow for the most detailed and realistic simulations. Thus readers are provided with a guideline for selecting which approach to use for a given problem. The analytical models are useful for studying interactions between demography and language evolution in terms of high-level processes; the agent-based analytical models are good for studying such interactions in terms of social dynamics without bothering too much about the cognitive mechanisms of language processing; and the agent-based cognitive models are best suited for the study of the interactions between the complex sociocognitive mechanisms underlying language evolution.
Vogt
Paul
P
Tilburg Center for Creative Computing, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
D003071:Cognition; D003468:Cultural Evolution; D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011157:Population Dynamics