A puzzling fact about linguistic norms is that they are mainly stable, but the conventional variant sometimes changes. These transitions seem to be mostly S-shaped and, therefore, directed. Previous models have suggested possible mechanisms to explain these directed changes, mainly based on a bias favoring the innovative variant. What is still debated is the origin of such a bias. In this paper, we propose a refined taxonomy of mechanisms of language change and identify a family of mechanisms explaining self-actuated language changes. We exemplify this type of mechanism with the preference-based selection mechanism that relies on agents having dynamic preferences for different variants of the linguistic norm. The key point is that if these preferences align through social interactions, then new changes can be actuated even in the absence of external triggers. We present results of a multi-agent model and demonstrate that the model produces trajectories that are typical of language change.

关于语言规范的一个令人费解的事实是它们主要是稳定的，但是传统的变体有时会改变。这些过渡似乎主要是S形的，因此是有方向的。先前的模型已经提出了可能的机制来解释这些有针对性的变化，主要是基于偏向于创新型变量的偏见。仍在争论的是这种偏见的根源。在本文中，我们提出了一种完善的语言变化机制分类法，并确定了一系列解释自我驱动的语言变化的机制。我们以基于偏好的方式来举例说明这种类型的机制选择机制依赖于对语言规范的不同变体具有动态偏好的代理。关键是，如果这些偏好通过社会互动而保持一致，那么即使没有外部触发因素，也可以促成新的变化。我们提出了多主体模型的结果，并证明了该模型所产生的轨迹是语言改变所特有的。