International School on Complexity Course on Statistical Physics of Social Dynamics

1. International School on Complexity Course on Statistical Physics of Social Dynamics Opinions, Semiotic Dynamics, and Language July 19, 2007. Erice, Italy The Dynamics of Language Evolution wsywang@ee.cuhk.edu.hk William S-Y. Wang Chinese University of Hong Kong

2. Ma sopra tutte le invenzioni stupende, qual eminenza di mente fu quella di colui che s'immaginò di trovar modo di comunicare i suoi più reconditi pensieri a qualsivoglia altra persona, benché distante per lunghissimo intervallo di luogo e di tempo?

3. Languages diversify in space & time Major engines for change: vertical, across generations horizontal, language contact

4. Leonard Bloomfield Language 1933

5. Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. and W.S-Y.Wang. 1986. Spatial distance and lexical replacement. Language 62.38-55.

6. Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. and W.S-Y.Wang. 1986. Spatial distance and lexical replacement. Language 62.38-55.

7. “chaque mot a son histoire” Given the heterogeneous rates of change exhibited by the features of language, including lexical features, how can we capture statistically their distributions, leading to more substantive understanding?

8. Lexical strata in Japanese based on Shibatani 1987:133. Meaning : cancellation detour idea acrobatics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- wago : torikeshi mawarimichi omoitsuki karuwaza 和語 kango : kaiyaku ukairo chakusô kyokugei 漢語 解 約 迂回路 著 想 曲 藝 gairaigo : kyanseru baipasu aidea akurobatto 外來語

9. Chinese Japanese Vng=o: wang 王 o: yang 陽 yo: lang 浪 ro: mang 盲 mo: fang 方 ho: kong 孔 ko: dong 東 to: song 宋 so: nong 農 no: ding 丁 cho: qing 情 jo: xing 星 sho: ming 命 myo: ling 嶺 ryo: bing 冰 hyo: bing 病 byo: Chinese Japanese hu 壺 ko h :: k he 鶴 kaku hei 黑 koku hai 海 kai hua 花 ka hua 滑 kotsu huo 活 katsu han 漢 kan hun 婚 kon huang 黃 ko: xi 喜 ki h > x xi 系 kei xiu 休 kyu: xin 欣 kin xian 險 ken xiang 向 ko:

10. Dao Hua (倒话) • A creole language in Southwest Sichuan Prov., between the Tibetan area and Han area. • Emerged 300 years ago during the invasion of Qing troops into Tibetan to suppress the minority riot. • Influenced a lot by Southwest Mandarin (e.g., Lexicons) and Tibetan (e.g., Grammar). Dao Hua’s area ACuo (阿错)

11. Mixture of Mandarin and Tibetan in Dao Hua • 马 骑 人 一 个 来了。 • Horse ride man one MW come • 一 个 骑 马 的人 来了. • one MW ride horse Pt man come Pt. • 他 -ki茶 喝 -tsv4 - tsu4 - di- jiu3- li。 • he (subject) tea drink (when is going to and not begin yet) • (他正要喝茶（还没喝）的时候) Mixture in Linguistic components in Dao Hua L: Language; T: Tibetan; M: Mandarin; Z: Dao hua V: Vocabulary; S: Semantics; Gc: Grammar (content); Gf: Grammar (form); Ps: Phonology (Phonotactics ); Pe: Phonology (Phonemes); L(Z) = {V(M), {Gc(T), Gf(T&M)}, {Ps(M), Pe(T)}, S(T&M)}

12. Basic meanings according to M. Swadesh & S.Yakhontov

13. Schleicher, August. Compendium der vergleichenden Grammatik der indo-germanischen Sprachen. 4th ed. 1876. Weimar.

14. Schleicher, August. Compendium der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen. 4th ed. 1876. • P.8: Die länge der linien deutet die zeitdauer an, die entfernung der selben von einander den verwantschaftsgrad. • The length of the lines indicates the amount of time which had elapsed and the distance between them degrees of relationship. W.K.Percival 1987:6.

15. Cognate percentages for basic words. based on Dyen, Kruskal and Black 1992.

16. Cognate percentages for basic words. based on Xu, 1991.

20. Wang, W.S-Y. 1998. Three windows on the past. Pp.508-534 in V.H.Mair, ed.

21. William S-Y. Wang. The migration of the Chinese people and the settlement of Taiwan.Anthropological Studies of the Taiwan Area 15-36, 1989.

22. Two subgroups of equal time depth and retention rate R A W δ a b c d w x y z

24. Suppose language w adopts δ words from language d:

25. How can we detect such effects of language contact in prehistory, • when multiple languages are involved? • when the adoptions are bidirectional? • when the sources are outside the set? etc.

26. Words for integers in some Indo-European languages. from C.Renfrew 1989.

27. a > e e > i i > ai sanity > sane shepherd > sheep hid > hide gratitude >grateful kept > keep Christmas > Christ opacity > opaque serenity > serene divinity > divine tabular > table obscenity > obscene linear > line chastity > chaste leapt > leap fifth > five Vowel alternations in English

28. pt > tt kt > tt dm > mm dv > vv settembre ottobre ammirare avverso adattore attore ammettere avverbio adottore *practicare bd > dd kd > dd ks > ss bs > ss addome aneddoto affisso assenza *abdicare apoplessia assorbire assurdo

29. Lexical Diffusion - an early model U V C W1 W1 W2 W2 ~ W2 W3 W3 ~ W3 . , . . . . Wn Wn

30. Lexical Diffusion: [u] > [ŭ] in English U V C -k hook -t loot soot foot -d food hood -m gloom groom -n noon

32. Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. & M.W.Feldman. 1981. Cultural Transmission and Evolution. Princeton. The new word that becomes part of a language, - - -, is an innovation and can be considered as an analog of mutation in biology. - - - When the process of diffusion of an innovation is followed for a sufficiently long time, the frequency of use of the innovation almost always follows an S-shaped curve. At the beginning the number of acceptances rapidly increases - - -. Then follows an approximately linear increase, and finally the increase slows down and is barely perceptible. P.29-30.

33. Shen, Zhongwei. 1997. Exploring the Dynamic Aspect of Sound Change. Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monog. #11. • Niyogi, Partha, 2006. The Computational Nature of Language Learning and Evolution. MIT Press.

35. Age as Virtual Time

37. Model for Lexical Diffusion — One Word t: u c u + c = 1 t + dt: u (1 – a c) u a c c udenotes theproportion of unchangedforms cdenotes theproportion of changedforms ais a constant that controls therate of changeofc,0 ≤a≤ 1

38. Solution to One Word Model The frequency of changedforms has the solution: 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 — the Logistic Curve 0.6 C (t) 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 t

39. 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 Proportion of words that have acquired changed form 0.5 0.4 i) in the gradient of curves 0.3 ii) in the separation of curves 0.2 0.1 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Time Lexical Diffusion and the Snowball Effect Successive words acquirechanged form at anincreasingly rapid rate This can be observed:

40. Three examples of linguistic study: • Lexical replacement in Micronesia, • Time depth and prehistory, • Diffusion of a sound change.

41. sounds, meanings, words, constructions. etc. A language is NOT a unitary homogeneous object, but a heterogeneous, layered, dynamic mosaic of features, constructed piece-meal by the child during the early years, and enriched by the adult, adopting features from other speakers and other languages. vertical transmission horizontal transmission

42. How do we best model the two modes of transmission word by word across the lexicon, from generation to generation, from speaker to speaker, and from community to community? How do we distinguish the products of the two modes of transmission in order to better understand linguistic prehistory, and thereby human prehistory?

43. Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. and W.S-Y. Wang. 1986. Spatial distance and lexical replacement. Language62.38-55. Wang, W.S.-Y., J.Y. Ke and J.W. Minett. 2004. Computational studies of language evolution. 65-106 in Computational Linguistics and Beyond. Huang, C.R. and W. Lenders eds. Academia Sinica: Institute of Linguistics. Gong, T., J. Ke, J.W. Minett, J.H. Holland and W.S-Y. Wang. 2005. Coevolution of lexicon and syntax from a simulation perspective. Complexity, 10.6: 50-62. Wang, W.S-Y. and J.W. Minett. 2005. Vertical and horizontal transmission in language evolution. Transactions of the Philological Society 103.2.121-46.

44. Heartfelt thanks to the two directors, Luc and Vittorio, and their many able associates for a week of intellectual feasts on Opinions, Semiotic Dynamics, and Language in such afairylandsetting ! Grazie di cuore per una settimana stupenda!