Speaking out: A mathematical model of language preservation

Languages evolve as an effect of communal competition while environmental and social dynamics characterize a language. There are thousands of languages spoken around the world but many of them are in danger of going extinct because of language competition and shifts. Modeling language preservation is important because the rise and fall of a language directly impacts the culture attached to it. We present a study of language competition and preservation between a bilingual population and two monolingual populations using a mathematical model involving nonlinear systems of differential equations. Building upon the ideas of previous models in the literature, the model utilizes population proportions with a simple structure that yields noteworthy behavior including a stable spiral with all three language groups preserved. We investigate how bilinguals and monolinguals can coexist as well as how they can affect one another.