Quantifying the evolutionary dynamics of language

Erez Lieberman (), Jean-Baptiste Michel, Joe Jackson, Tina Tang and Martin A. Nowak
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Erez Lieberman: Program for Evolutionary Dynamics
Jean-Baptiste Michel: Program for Evolutionary Dynamics
Joe Jackson: Program for Evolutionary Dynamics
Tina Tang: Program for Evolutionary Dynamics
Martin A. Nowak: Program for Evolutionary Dynamics

Nature, 2007, vol. 449, issue 7163, 713-716

Abstract: Words on the brink As a language evolves, grammatical rules emerge and exceptions die out. Lieberman et al. have calculated the rate at which a language grows more regular, based on 1,200 years of English usage. Of 177 irregular verbs, 79 became regular in the last millennium. And the trend follows a simple rule: a verb's half-life scales as the square root of its frequency. Irregular verbs that are 100 times as rare regularize 10 times faster. The emergence of a rule (such as adding –ed for the past tense) spells death for exceptional forms. The cover graphic makes the point: verb size corresponds to usage frequency, so large verbs stay at the top, and small verbs fall to the bottom. 'Wed', the next irregular verb to go, is on the brink. In a separate study, Pagel et al. looked at changing word meanings. Across the Indo-European languages, words like 'tail' or 'bird' evolve rapidly and are expressed by many unrelated words. Others, like 'two', are expressed by closely related word forms across the whole language family. Data from over 80 modern languages show that the more a word is used, the less it changes.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06137

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