Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Petersen AM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3304511 | biostudies-literature | 2012
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Petersen Alexander M AM Tenenbaum Joel J Havlin Shlomo S Stanley H Eugene HE
Scientific reports 20120315
We analyze the dynamic properties of 10(7) words recorded in English, Spanish and Hebrew over the period 1800-2008 in order to gain insight into the coevolution of language and culture. We report language independent patterns useful as benchmarks for theoretical models of language evolution. A significantly decreasing (increasing) trend in the birth (death) rate of words indicates a recent shift in the selection laws governing word use. For new words, we observe a peak in the growth-rate fluctua ...[more]