Language evolution is an important problem in social science field. It is a typical social science problem which cannot be applied to computation experiments before the social simulation method is introduced. We apply the social simulation method to this problem, and present a new microscopic social simulation model of language competition based on the multiagent and social circles theory. Agents of the model are characterized by vocabulary structure.

the model can show the macroscopic process of language evolution through the evolution of the vocabulary structure of speakers. We do a large number of computation experiments and the results show that the range of parameter values of language coexistence is very small and it is difficult to achieve the state of language coexistence without intervention. However, the range is significantly broadened when the intervention is undertaken within a certain time window. Furthermore, we find that the effect of intervention is better in the society with a higher openness degree. This finding extends the understanding for the language competition model of complex networks.

social circle, complex network, language competition, computation experiment

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