A model of code-switching and borrowing in bilingual communities

Abstract

We modify the Abrams-Strogatz model of language competition to incorporate code-switching and borrowing in a population with bilingual speakers, and look at how these modifications influence language death. We see that language death is still inevitable, except for very few cases. Interesting effects, however, such as accelerating or delaying language death and changing the probability of survival of a language, are observed by changing the appropriate parameters.