Language boundaries: a physical approach

Synopsis

Linguists have thoroughly studied how human dialects propagate, however their results are mostly qualitative and lack predictive power. Here, a quantitative answer is given using a statistical physics-archive model analogous to surface tension. It will be shown that isoglosses – dialect boundaries – tend to flatten over time, except under population density gradients which induce curvature. The model can predict to some extent the modern distribution of dialects in England. It can also explain some geographic features of modern isoglosses, and provides an answer to an old linguists' debate: are dialects geographic variations discrete or continuous in space?

Burridge, James. "Spatial evolution of human dialects." Physical Review X 7.3 (2017): 031008.