Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 October 2008
This paper presents computer simulations of language populations and the development of language families, showing how a simple model can lead to distributions similar to those observed empirically by Wichmann (2005) and others. The model combines features of two models used in earlier work for the simulation of competition among languages: the ‘Viviane’ model for the migration of peoples and the propagation of languages, and the ‘Schulze’ model, which uses bit-strings as a way of characterising structural features of languages.
Work on this paper was carried out while Castro de Oliveira, Dietrich Stauffer and Suzana Moss de Oliveira were visiting Laboratoire PMMH, École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (10 rue Vauquelin, F-75231 Paris, France). The authors are grateful to JL's anonymous referees for their comments on the original submission and subsequent revisions.
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