eprintid: 1253
rev_number: 8
eprint_status: archive
userid: 27
dir: disk0/00/00/12/53
datestamp: 2012-04-02 07:22:55
lastmod: 2012-04-02 07:22:55
status_changed: 2012-04-02 07:22:55
type: article
succeeds: 1131
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Petersen, Alexander M.
creators_name: Tenenbaum, Joel
creators_name: Havlin, Shlomo
creators_name: Stanley, H. Eugene
creators_id: alexander.petersen@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
title: Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death
ispublished: pub
subjects: D1
subjects: HB
subjects: HM
subjects: P1
subjects: QC
divisions: EIC
full_text_status: public
monograph_type: working_paper
keywords: Evolution, Statistics, Applied physics, Statistical physics, thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics
abstract: We analyze the dynamic properties of 107 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 fluctuations around 40 years after introduction, consistent with the typical entry time into standard dictionaries and the human generational
timescale. Pronounced changes in the dynamics of language during periods of war shows that word correlations, occurring across time and between words, are largely influenced by coevolutionary social,technological, and political factors. We quantify cultural memory by analyzing the long-term correlations in the use of individual words using detrended fluctuation analysis.
date: 2012-03-15
date_type: published
publication: (Nature) Scientific Reports
volume: 2
number: 313
publisher: Nature Publishing Group
pagerange: 1-9
id_number: 10.1038/srep00313
institution: IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca
refereed: TRUE
issn: 2045-2322
official_url: http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120315/srep00313/full/srep00313.html
related_url_url: http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.3707
citation:   Petersen, Alexander M. and Tenenbaum, Joel and Havlin, Shlomo and Stanley, H. Eugene  Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death.  (Nature) Scientific Reports, 2 (313).  pp. 1-9.  ISSN 2045-2322      (2012)  
document_url: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/1253/1/WordGrowthDynamics.pdf
document_url: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/1253/7/WordBirthWordDeath_SciReports.pdf