The evolution of language October 11, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : theory , trackbackI can’t help feeling there’s something of possible significance outside of the field of linguistics in the findings of this research into the evolution of Indo-European language patterns.
Mindhacks: Following the evolution of language
The researchers found that the more frequently the a verb is used in the language, the less quickly it becomes regularised in the language.
A similar technique was used in a study by Mark Pagel and colleagues, who found that in Indo-European languages, the more frequently a word is used the less likely it is to be replaced.
This pattern, which applies in the evolution of species as well as language and in other complex systems such as markets and technologies is that the mainstream populations are more stable, almost calcified, whilst innovation takes place more rapidly at the edge, together with higher attrition rates of course.
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