Creolization versus code-switching: An agent-based cognitive model for bilingual strategies in language contact

Charles John Torres, Weijie Xu, Yanting Li, Richard Futrell


Abstract
Creolization and code-switching are closely related contact-induced linguistic phenomena, yet little attention has been paid to the connection between them. In this paper, we propose an agent-based cognitive model which provides a linkage between these two phenomena focusing on the statistical regularization of language use. That is, we identify that creolization as a conventionalization process and code-switching as flexible language choice can emerge from the same cognitive model in different social environments. Our model postulates a social structure of bilingual and monolingual populations, in which a set of agents seek for optimal communicative strategy shaped by multiple cognitive constraints. The simulation results show that our model successfully captures both phenomena as two ends of a continuum, characterized by varying degrees of regularization in the use of linguistic constructions from multiple source languages. The model also reveals a subtle dynamic between social structure and individual-level cognitive constraints.
Anthology ID:
2025.cmcl-1.25
Volume:
Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics
Month:
May
Year:
2025
Address:
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Editors:
Tatsuki Kuribayashi, Giulia Rambelli, Ece Takmaz, Philipp Wicke, Jixing Li, Byung-Doh Oh
Venues:
CMCL | WS
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
207–218
Language:
URL:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/Ingest-2025-COMPUTEL/2025.cmcl-1.25/
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Charles John Torres, Weijie Xu, Yanting Li, and Richard Futrell. 2025. Creolization versus code-switching: An agent-based cognitive model for bilingual strategies in language contact. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, pages 207–218, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Creolization versus code-switching: An agent-based cognitive model for bilingual strategies in language contact (Torres et al., CMCL 2025)
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https://preview.aclanthology.org/Ingest-2025-COMPUTEL/2025.cmcl-1.25.pdf