Community size matters when people create a new language

Published on July 17, 2019

Why do some languages have simpler grammars than others? Researchers propose that the size of the community influences the complexity of the language that evolves in it. When small and large groups of participants played a ‘communication game’ using only gibberish words they had to invent, the languages invented by larger groups were more systematic than languages of smaller groups, showing that community size is important for shaping grammar.

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