Bit-strings and other modifications of Viviane model for language competition
arXiv:physics/0608204 · doi:10.1016/j.physa.2006.10.022
Abstract
The language competition model of Viviane de Oliveira et al is modified by associating with each language a string of 32 bits. Whenever a language changes in this Viviane model, also one randomly selected bit is flipped. If then only languages with different bit-strings are counted as different, the resulting size distribution of languages agrees with the empirically observed slightly asymmetric log-normal distribution. Several other modifications were also tried but either had more free parameters or agreed less well with reality.
12 pages including 8 figures, to be submitted to Physica A