Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6369129 | Journal of Theoretical Biology | 2016 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
Inspired by the Moran and Wright-Fisher models in population genetics, we developed a neutral model of word frequency variation to assess when linguistic data appears to depart from neutral evolution. As such, our model represents a possible “test for selection” in the linguistic domain. We explore how the distribution of word use has changed for sets of words in English for more than 100 years (1901-2008) as expressed in vocabulary usage in published books, made available by Google Ngram. When comparing empirical word frequency changes to our neutral model we find pervasive and systematic departures from neutrality.
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Authors
Suzanne S. Sindi, Rick Dale,