TITLE:
Revisit Language Modeling Competition and Extinction: A Data-Driven Validation
AUTHORS:
Chosila Sutantawibul, Pengcheng Xiao, Sarah Richie, Daniela Fuentes-Rivero
KEYWORDS:
Language Competition Model, Parameter Estimation, Nonlinear Regression
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics,
Vol.6 No.7,
July
30,
2018
ABSTRACT: Understanding language competition
and extinction is an interdisciplinary challenge, and math models provide a
tool for interpreting linguistic census data and possibly predict the language
shift trend at the population scale. In this study, new data from previously
examined areas were modeled, specifically Catalan and Spanish in Catalonia, Spanish and
English in Houston, Texas, Dutch and French in Brussels, Euskera and Spanish in
Spain and French and English in Canada. Three mathematical models of the
language competition have been validated. The first is the Abrams-Strogatz
model, which treats populations as having two monolingual groups. The second is
the Castelló model, which considers bilingual speakers. The third is the Mira
model, which considers language competition when the two languages have high
similarities. It was found that the some of the data matched Abrams-Strogatz
original model, but some divergences could still be addressed. It was also
found that the Mira model needs some improvement in how it treats the
differences between languages.