Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death

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)

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1038/srep00313
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Evolution, Statistics, Applied physics, Statistical physics, thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HM Sociology P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics Q Science > QC Physics
Research Area:	Economics and Institutional Change
Depositing User:	Alexander Petersen
Date Deposited:	02 Apr 2012 07:22
Last Modified:	02 Apr 2012 07:22
URI:	http://eprints.imtlucca.it/id/eprint/1253

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• Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death. (deposited 16 Jan 2012 09:33)
  • Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death. (deposited 16 Feb 2012 09:54)
    • Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death. (deposited 02 Apr 2012 07:22) [Currently Displayed]

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