Abstract
Languages spoken in larger populations are relatively simple. A possible explanation for this is that languages with a greater number of speakers tend to also be those with higher proportions of non‐native speakers, who may simplify language during learning. We assess this explanation for the negative correlation between population size and linguistic complexity in three experiments, using artificial language learning techniques to investigate both the simplifications made by individual adult learners and the potential for such simplifications to influence group‐level language characteristics. In Experiment 1, we show that individual adult learners trained on a morphologically complex miniature language simplify its morphology. In Experiment 2, we explore how these simplifications may then propagate through subsequent learning. We use the languages produced by the participants of Experiment 1 as the input for a second set of learners, manipulating (a) the proportion of their input which is simplified and (b) the number of speakers they receive their input from. We find, contrary to expectations, that mixing the input from multiple speakers nullifies the simplifications introduced by individuals in Experiment 1; simplifications at the individual level do not result in simplification of the population's language. In Experiment 3, we focus on language use as a mechanism for simplification, exploring the consequences of the interaction between individuals differing in their linguistic competence (as native and non‐native speakers might). We find that speakers who acquire a more complex language than their partner simplify their language during interaction. We ultimately conclude that adult learning can result in languages spoken by more people having simpler morphology, but that idiosyncratic simplifications by non‐natives do not offer a complete explanation in themselves; accommodation—by comparatively competent non‐natives to less competent speakers, or by native speakers to non‐natives—may be a key linking mechanism.
Highlights
Languages are products of cultural evolutionary processes, transmitted across generations of users via social learning
We test the hypothesis that adult learning plays a crucial role in language simplification and drives the negative correlation between population size and linguistic complexity
While we do find that language use in the early stages of learning is characterized by simplification, we find that the simplifications introduced in such circumstances are unlikely to spread through a population solely by subsequent learning, even if that population contains a large proportion of adult learners, or a large absolute number of adult learners
Summary
Languages are products of cultural evolutionary processes, transmitted across generations of users via social learning. A growing body of work seeks to explain properties of linguistic systems in terms of their social environments We review this literature below, focussing on a prominent group of related theories which link linguistic complexity to social structure, in particular population size and the proportion of adult learners in a population. Several authors claim, supported by circumstantial evidence, that languages spoken in large populations featuring a relatively high proportion of non-native speakers are simpler than languages spoken in smaller populations where non-native speakers are rare. While we find these claims intriguing and plausible, direct experimental tests of the proposed links between linguistic complexity, population size, and proportion of nonnative speakers are lacking. In Experiment 3, we show how interaction could in principle provide such a linking mechanism: simplifications of the kind made by non-native learners are preferentially adopted during interaction and are more likely to spread
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