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The Evolution of Dialect Diversity

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Simulating the Evolution of Language

Abstract

Observations on dialect diversity have been recorded for thousands of years, including Old Testament stories and early writings and literature from around the globe. Language diversity remains the subject of much study today — largely in the related fields of socio-linguistics, historical linguistics and dialectology. One key question is why is there so much difference in dialects. To some the question was irrelevant as diversity was somehow obviously a natural feature of human language, one not requiring much explanation — it simply was. Currently the question of why diversity should exist to the degree that it does has been taken quite seriously, with strong differences of opinion apparent.

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Livingstone, D. (2002). The Evolution of Dialect Diversity. In: Cangelosi, A., Parisi, D. (eds) Simulating the Evolution of Language. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0663-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0663-0_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-85233-428-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-0663-0

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