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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">***apologies if you receive this more than once***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The next Turing at Southampton Seminar will take place on Wednesday 29 January 2020 at 3pm. Refreshments will be served after the seminar to allow an opportunity for networking. All are welcome to attend!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">Speaker: </span></b><span style="color:black"> James Burridge, University of Portsmouth<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">Date:</span></b><span style="color:black"> Wednesday 29 January 2020, 15.00<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">Location: </span></b><span style="color:black">Building 54/5025<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">Title:</span></b><span style="color:black"> Language Mechanics <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:72.0pt;text-indent:-72.0pt"><b><span style="color:black">Abstract:</span></b><span style="color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Language is one of the primary “signals” emitted by society - a good place to start
</span>i<span style="color:black">f</span> <span style="color:black">we</span> <span style="color:black">
want a mathematical understanding human collective behavior. In this talk I will explore how the tools of statistical physics can be used to model language evolution. First, I will describe a connection between phase ordering in magnetic systems, and the geographical
evolution of language. I will show how different universality classes in physical models correspond to alternative hypotheses for the social factors which drive language change, with some models able to predict observed patterns. I will then explore the sound
inventories from which languages are built, specifically vowels. Human vowel systems may be shown to spontaneously emerge from a “soup” of diffusing words, modelled as Brownian particles. If we want such diffusive dynamics to accurately fit real linguistic
data, then we can again make use of phase ordering models, treating the evolution of sound inventories as an energy minimization process. Finally, I will discuss how a combination of statistical physics and statistical learning might in future allow us to
build models with realistic dynamics which fit complex linguistic datasets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best wishes<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Susan<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">_____________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Susan Davies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Coordination Manager,
<a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/wsi/index.page?">Web Science Institute</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">University Liaison Manager,
<a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/wsi/alan-turing-institute/alan-turing-institute.page">
The Alan Turing Institute</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Room 3041, Building 32<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Web Science Institute<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">University of Southampton<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Southampton SO17 1BJ<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">023 8059 3523 | 07768 266464<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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