# name
Social Simulation Based on Cellular Automata: Modeling Language Shifts

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
Nowadays, language shifts (i.e., a community of speakers stops using their traditional
language and speaks a new one in all communication settings) may produce a massive
extinction of languages throughout the world. In this context, an important task for social
sciences research should therefore be to achieve a deep comprehension of language shifts.
However, modeling the social and behavioral variables that guide the social behavior of
individuals and groups has traditionally been tricky in all the social sciences. In this
situation, social simulation provides a tool for testing hypotheses and building models of
social phenomena (see, for example, Gilbert, 1996; Gilbert & Toitzsch, 2005; and Goldspink,
2002), especially the techniques based on cellular automata theory (Hegselmann, 1996;
Hegselman & Flache, 1998; Nowak & Lewenstein, 1996). According to this framewok, we
introduce the properties of a cellular automaton that incorporates some assumptions from
the Gaelic-Arvanitika model of language shifts (Sasse, 1992) and the findings on the
dynamics of social impacts in the field of social psychology (Latané, 1981; Nowak et al.
1990). Thus, we define a cellular automaton and carry out a set of simulations in which it is
used. We incorporate empirical data from recent sociolinguistic studies in Catalonia (a
region in Southern Europe) to run the automaton under different scenarios. The results
allow us to highlight some of the main factors involved in a language shift. Finally, we also
discuss how the social simulation based on cellular automata theory approach proves to be a
useful tool for understanding language shifts.

# metadata.dc.rights[].value
cc by (c) Salvador Beltrán, Francesc  et al., 2011

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Llibres / Capítols de llibre (Psicologia Social i Psicologia Quantitativa)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Social Simulation Based on Cellular Automata: Modeling Language Shifts