We use a mathematical model to examine three phenomena involving language change across the lifespan: the apparent time construct, the adolescent peak, and two different patterns of individual change. The apparent time construct is attributed to a decline in flexibility toward language change over one's lifetime; this explanation is borne out in our model. The adolescent peak has been explained by social networks: children interact more with caregivers a generation older until later childhood and adolescence. We find that the peak also occurs with many other network structures, so the peak is not specifically due to caregiver interaction. The two patterns of individual change are one in which most individuals change gradually, following the mean of community change, and another in which most individuals have more categorical behavior and change rapidly if they change at all. Our model suggests that they represent different balances between the differential weighting of competing variants and degree of accommodation to other speakers.

中文翻译：

---

对整个生命周期的语言变化建模：社区变化中的个体轨迹

我们使用一个数学模型来研究涉及整个生命周期语言变化的三种现象：表观时间结构、青春期高峰和两种不同的个体变化模式。明显的时间结构归因于一生中语言变化的灵活性下降；这个解释在我们的模型中得到了证实。社交网络解释了青少年高峰期：儿童与年龄较大的一代人的照顾者互动更多，直到童年和青春期后期。我们发现，许多其他网络结构也出现峰值，因此峰值并不是特别是由于照顾者的互动。个体变化的两种模式是大多数个体随着社区变化的平均值而逐渐变化的一种模式，另一种情况是，大多数人的行为更加分类，如果他们发生变化，他们也会迅速改变。我们的模型表明，它们代表了竞争变体的不同权重和对其他说话者的适应程度之间的不同平衡。