论文标题
关于竞争语言的共存
On the coexistence of competing languages
论文作者
论文摘要
我们调查了竞争语言的演变，这个主题以前的许多文献表明结果始终是一种语言的统治。由于现实中观察到语言的共存，因此我们在这里重新审视语言竞争问题，重点是揭示共存可能出现的方式。我们发现，这种出现与对称性的破坏有关，并探索了两种特定的情况 - 第一个与单个地理区域中语言说话者人口动态的失衡有关，第二个与空间异质性有关，而语言偏好是与不同地理区域的特异性。对于每种情况，对范式情况的调查都使我们对导致语言共存的条件进行定量理解。我们还可以获得对幸存语言数量的预测，这是各种模型参数的函数。
We investigate the evolution of competing languages, a subject where much previous literature suggests that the outcome is always the domination of one language over all the others. Since coexistence of languages is observed in reality, we here revisit the question of language competition, with an emphasis on uncovering the ways in which coexistence might emerge. We find that this emergence is related to symmetry breaking, and explore two particular scenarios -- the first relating to an imbalance in the population dynamics of language speakers in a single geographical area, and the second to do with spatial heterogeneity, where language preferences are specific to different geographical regions. For each of these, the investigation of paradigmatic situations leads us to a quantitative understanding of the conditions leading to language coexistence. We also obtain predictions of the number of surviving languages as a function of various model parameters.
