Language is ever evolving—from ancient dialects to modern slang, the words and accents people use are not only expressions of culture and personal identity, but also reflections of our past.
Now, a new study from the University of Portsmouth suggests that these changes may not be as random as first thought. Instead, they may follow predictable patterns.
James Burridge, Professor of Probability and Statistical Physics at the University’s School of Mathematics and Physics, and his team developed a framework to forecast how language patterns spread across regions and generations.
By leveraging statistical physics, scientists are beginning to map the movement of words and accents in ways that are similar to weather forecasting.
“Just as meteorologists use mathematical models to forecast tomorrow’s weather, the same kind of thinking can be applied to language,” Burridge said in a statement.
“Where you are affects how you speak, and if you map how people use certain words, you see clear geographic patterns—just like a weather map. However, the physics of language is closer to crystals and magnets than the atmosphere.”
“Language change can seem mysterious,” Burridge said, “but my research argues that as well as being driven by individual human behavior it may also obey some of the same broad rules that govern physical systems like magnets, bubbles, and fluids.”
The result looks something like a “language weather map,” revealing clear geographic patterns in speech. In their research, Burridge and his colleagues decided to focus their study on regional dialects in the United States, using data from the University of Cambridge’s Cambridge Online Survey of World Englishes, created by linguist Bert Vaux.
This large-scale survey enabled Burridge to examine how different terms compete and spread across various communities. Specifically, Burridge looked at common pop culture terms we use daily or weekly, like the word “soda,” while others use the term “pop,” and why some of these popular words spread while others retreat.
One interesting example is the word used for a small crustacean commonly found in gardens. Depending on the region and area someone lives in, they might call it a “woodlouse” or a “roly-poly.” In the 1950s, “roly-poly” was mainly used in parts of the American South. But by 1995, the term had spread widely across the United States. This rapid spread of common words shows how local expressions can spread far beyond their origins and become the dominant word in that area or region.
The model also helps explain why some regional terms survive while others die out. In earlier research, Burridge studied the spread of the word “splinter” across England. While “splinter” became standard across most of the country, in the northeast (in regions like Newcastle upon Tyne), the local term “spelk” stayed strong as a word. According to the model, local isolation of a term and low population in those areas can help preserve the local words.
“Splinter is used across almost all of England, except around Newcastle, where people still say spelk,” says Burridge. “Although Newcastle itself is densely populated, it is surrounded by more sparsely populated areas, which helps the local form hold its ground and prevents splinter from taking over.”
One of the study’s most important findings is the idea of a linguistic “horizon.” Like weather forecasts, language predictions become less trustworthy over time as they keep being picked up by the new generation.
Burridge notes, “My research suggests that language may be much more law-like than it first appears. Beneath the creativity and messiness of human speech, there may be hidden statistical forces shaping how we all end up talking.”
“For physicists like me, this is particularly exciting, as it suggests that the elegant tools of statistical field theory may help explain not just the natural world, but patterns in human communication as well,” he adds.
The new framework could have implications beyond linguistics. For example, understanding how language evolves may help sociologists study cultural change and improve technologies such as speech recognition and translation systems.
Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.