Re: Accelerated language evolution : a proposed experiment

Here be Gmail!  Watch Reply-to!

The evolution might also be faster because people type in shorthand so
much when IMing (like IMing for example).

On 10/21/05, Alex Fink <a4pq1injbok_0@...> wrote:
> I've had a similar idea before; this would certainly be interesting.
> Indeed, I wonder whether it's feasible to do such an experiment online over
> instant messaging.  This would have big implications for 'phonology': the
> underlying production mechanism would be keyboard input instead of speech,
> which would make the natural 'phonological systems' and 'sound changes'
> drastically different than the familiar speech-based ones (there would
> probably be significant interference from familiar orthographies, though).
> But as far as morphology and syntax and lexicon, the experiment should be
> relatively medium-independent.
>
> I conjecture that, if all the participants are fluent speakers of the same
> natlang (e.g. English, as you seem to assume), the language of the
> experiment would probably quickly absorb features of that natlang,
> especially given the imposed higher rate of change.  Of course, this would
> allow an interesting variant on the experiment looking at how much
> interference takes place and how quickly; but it strikes me that it would be
> difficult to get a good simulation of language change independent of any
> natlang if all the volunteers had a common language initially.
>
> Alex
>
> On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 16:55:55 +0100, Peter Bleackley
> <Peter.Bleackley@...> wrote:
>
> >I know that some people on the list are professional linguists, so I
> >thought that they might be interested in the proposed methodology for
> >studying the evolution of languages in real time. The idea is that language
> >evolves due to the errors that speakers make during language acquisition.
> >People normally spend quite a long time on language acquisition, in
> >constant contact with fluent speakers, and so are able to correct most of
> >these errors. If people have to learn a language in a limited time, with
> >limited access to fluent speakers, the rate of change will be
> >correspondingly higher.
> >
> >At the start of the experiment, a group of volunteers (Generation 0) is
> >given information about a conlang, consisting of a core vocabulary (common
> >to all volunteers), an extended vocabulary (50% of the remaining lexicon,
> >selected at random, different for each volunteer), a basic grammar, and a
> >set of example sentences based on the core vocabulary. Each volunteer is
> >told that he is a field linguist, visiting the native speakers of the
> >language, which at the end of two years he must document. The native
> >speakers are monolingual.
> >The volunteers meet in a room around 3 time a week for two hours at a time
> >and try to communicate in the language. There are various props in the room
> >that they can use to try to illustrate what they are saying.
> >
> >At the end of the first year, Generation 1 joins the experiment. They are
> >also told that they are field linguists, and that their task is to learn
> >the language from its native speakers and produce a report at the end of
> >two years. They, however, are given no initial information about the
> >language - they only have Generation 0 to learn it from, and both
> >generations are under strict instructions to use no English and maintain
> >the fiction that the native speakers are monolingual. At the end of each
> >year N, a new Generation N of volunteers joins the experiment.
> >
> > From the end of year 2 onwards, Generation N-2 leaves the experiment and
> >writes their field reports. This has the effect of removing the most fluent
> >speakers from the pool, and thus ensuring that a number of the errors that
> >the younger speakers have made become permanently incorporated into the
> >language. The field reports are studied to see how the language has changed
> >- what sound changes are occurring, what new grammatical features are
> >emerging, what changes the lexicon is undergoing.
> >
> >Pete
> >=========================================================================
>