A model of competition among more than two languages

We extend the Abrams-Strogatz model for competition between two languages [Nature 424, 900 (2003)] to the case of n(>=2) competing states (i.e., languages). Although the Abrams-Strogatz model for n=2 can be interpreted as modeling either majority preference or minority aversion, the two mechanisms are distinct when n>=3. We find that the condition for the coexistence of different states is independent of n under the pure majority preference, whereas it depends on n under the pure minority aversion. We also show that the stable coexistence equilibrium and stable monopoly equilibria can be multistable under the minority aversion and not under the majority preference. Furthermore, we obtain the phase diagram of the model when the effects of the majority preference and minority aversion are mixed, under the condition that different states have the same attractiveness. We show that the multistability is a generic property of the model facilitated by large n.


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Ryo Fujie et al. colleagues investigated variants of the AS model with bilingualism on various networks [4,5,32,33]. Coexistence also occurs when the attractiveness of languages is dynamically manipulated [6] or when bilingualism, horizontal (i.e., from adults to adults) and vertical (i.e., from adults to children) transmission of languages, and dynamics of the languages' attractiveness are combined [23,35].
In the present work, we extend the AS model to the case of competition among a general number of languages, denoted by n. Our model is a meanfield model (i.e., without spatial or network structure), as is the original AS model. Because the AS model has been used for modeling competition of other cultural or social traits such as religion [2], opinion, and service sectors [20], we use the term "state" instead of "language" in the following. We show that the behavior of the model is essentially different between n = 2 and n ≥ 3.
In particular, the coexistence of different states and the consensus can be multistable, i.e., the coexistence and consensus equilibria are both stable, only when n ≥ 3.

Model
We extend the AS model to the case of competition among n(≥ 2) states. The dynamics of the fraction of state i (1 ≤ i ≤ n) is given by where x i is the fraction of state i in the population, and P ji represents the transition rate from state j to state i. Equation (1) respects the conservation law n i=1 x i = 1. The transition rates of the original AS model (i.e., n = 2) are given by P ji = cs i x a i = cs i (1 − x j ) a ((i, j) = (1, 2), (2, 1)) , where a > 0 controls the strength of the frequency-dependent state transition, s i > 0 is the attractiveness of state i, and n i=1 s i = 1 [1]. Because c simply specifies the time scale of the dynamics, we set c = 1.
Equation (2) allows two interpretations: majority preference because P ji = s i x a i and minority aversion because P ji = s i (1 − x j ) a . The two principles lead to the same model when n = 2. However, the two principles are distinct when n ≥ 3. Therefore, we redefine P ji to allow for independent manipulation of the two factors. The transition rates of the extended model are defined by where β(≥ 0) and a − β(≥ 0) represent the strength of the majority preference and the minority aversion, respectively. When n = 2, the dynamics given by the substitution of Eq. (3) in Eq. (1) becomes independent of the β value.

Analysis
3.1 Case of majority preference (i.e., β = a) In this section, we set β = a to analyze the case in which the majority preference is present and the minority aversion is absent. Substitution of Eq. (3) in 6 Ryo Fujie et al.

Eq. (1) yields
where · represents the average over the population, i.e., the average of a state-dependent variable with weight x i (1 ≤ i ≤ n). Equation (4) is a replicator equation [14] in which s i x a−1 i and sx a−1 = n ℓ=1 s ℓ x a ℓ play the role of the fitness for state i and the average fitness in the population, respectively.
The dynamics given by Eq. (4) has n trivial equilibria corresponding to the consensus, i.e., the monopoly of a single state, and an interior equilibrium given by , is a Lyapunov function of the dynamics given by Eq. (4) because V has a unique global extremum at x * , which is minimum for a < 1 and maximum for a > 1 (Appendix A). Therefore, the coexistence equilibrium given by Eq. (5) is globally stable for a < 1 and unstable for a > 1.
Equation (4) also admits a unique equilibrium for each subset of the n states. When n = 3, for example, the equilibrium in which states 1 and 2, , and x 3 = 0. In general, there are n n ′ equilibria containing n ′ states. If 2 ≤ n ′ ≤ n − 1, these equilibria are unstable. For a < 1, the instability immediately follows from the fact that x * is the unique global minimum of V (x). For a > 1, any equilibrium containing n ′ (2 ≤ n ′ ≤ n − 1) states is unstable because it realizes the global maximum of the same Lyapunov function restricted to the simplex spanned by the n ′ states.
for example, the n − 2 states corresponding to s j (j = i, i ′ ) are eventually eliminated. The dynamics then stops such that states i and i ′ coexist. If all the three s i values are equal, any population is neutrally stable.  In Fig. 2, a bifurcation diagram in which we plot x * 1 against a is shown for s 1 = 0.40, s 2 = 0.35, and s 3 = 0.25. As a approaches unity from below, the stable coexistence equilibrium approaches the unstable consensus equilibrium corresponding to the largest s i value (e 1 in Fig. 1). At a = 1, the two equilibria collide, and an unstable coexistence equilibrium simultaneously bifurcates from the consensus equilibrium corresponding to the smallest s i value (e 3 in Fig. 1).

Eq. (1) yields
In contrast to the case of the majority preference (Sect. 3.1), the simplex spanned by n ′ (2 ≤ n ′ ≤ n − 1) states is not invariant under the dynamics given by Eq. (7). Therefore, a state that once gets extinct may reappear. In this section, we numerically analyze Eq. (7) for n = 3 and n = 4. For general n, we analytically examine the special case in which s i is independent of i in For n = 3, the dynamics for various values of a is shown in Fig. 3. We set s 1 = 0.36, s 2 = 0.33, and s 3 = 0.31. When a is small (a < 1), there is a unique globally stable coexistence equilibrium in the interior (Fig. 3a). The three consensus equilibria e 1 , e 2 , and e 3 are unstable. At a = 1, e 1 , e 2 , and e 3 change the stability such that they are stable beyond a = 1 (Appendix B). Simultaneously, a saddle point bifurcates from each consensus equilibrium. The bifurcation occurs simultaneously for the three equilibria at a = 1 irrespective of the values of s 1 , s 2 , and s 3 . Slightly beyond a = 1, the three consensus equilibria and the interior coexistence equilibrium are multistable (see Fig. 3b for the results at a = 1.3). As a increases, the attractive basin of the coexistence equilibrium becomes small, and that of each consensus equilibrium becomes large (see Fig. 3c for the results at a = 1.4). At a = a c1 ≈ 1.43, the coexistence equilibrium that is stable for a < a c1 and the unstable interior equilibrium that bifurcates from e i at a = 1, where i corresponds to the largest s i value (i = 1 in the present example), collide. This is a saddle-node bifurcation.
Numerically obtained a c1 values are shown in Fig seems that a c1 is the largest when s i = 1/3 (1 ≤ i ≤ 3). Figure 4 suggests that heterogeneity in s i makes a c1 smaller and hence makes the stable coexistence of the three states difficult. When s i ≈ 1 and s j ≈ 0 (j = i), we obtain a c1 ≈ 1.
When a is slightly larger than a c1 , there are two saddle points in the interior. In this situation, one of the three consensus equilibria, which depends on the initial condition, is eventually reached (Fig. 3d). However, the manner with which the triangular phase space is divided into the three attractive basins is qualitatively different from that in the case of the majority preference ( Fig. 1b). In particular, in the present case of the minority aversion, even if x 1 is initially equal to 0, the consensus of state 1 (i.e., e 1 ) can be reached. This behavior never occurs in the case of the majority preference and less likely for a larger a value in the case of the minority aversion (Fig. 3e).
The sizes of the attractive basins of the different equilibria are plotted against a in Fig. 5a. Up to our numerical efforts with various initial conditions, we did not find limit cycles. A discrete jump in the basin size of the coexistence equilibrium is observed at a c1 ≈ 1.43, reminiscent of the saddle-node bifurcation. Interestingly, the attractive basin of the consensus equilibrium e 1 is the largest just beyond a c1 .
As a increases further, the second saddle-node bifurcation occurs at a = a c2 ≈ 2.81, where an unstable node and a saddle point coappear (Fig. 3f).
Logically, the sizes of the attractive basins could be discontinuous at a = a c2 because some initial conditions with small x 1 might be attracted to e 1 when a is slightly smaller than a c2 and to e 2 or e 3 when a is slightly larger than a c2 .
However, up to our numerical efforts, we did not observe the discontinuity, as implied by Fig. 5a.
Numerically obtained a c2 values are shown in Fig. 4b for different values of s 1 , s 2 , and s 3 . Heterogeneity in s i makes a c2 larger. In addition, a c2 is equal to a c1 when s 1 = s 2 = s 3 = 1/3. In this symmetric case, the three saddle points simultaneously collide with the stable star node at a = 1. Beyond a = 1, the equilibrium that is the stable star node when a < 1 loses its stability to become an unstable star node. The three saddle points move away from the  unstable star node as a increases. This transition can be interpreted as three simultaneously occurring transcritical bifurcations.
Therefore, the heterogeneity in s i does not play the role in the limit a → ∞ such that the phase space is symmetrically divided into the three attractive basins corresponding to e 1 , e 2 , and e 3 .
For n = 4, the relationship between a and the sizes of the attractive basins of the different equilibria is shown in Fig. 5b. The results are qualitatively the same as those for n = 3 (Fig. 5a).

Symmetric case
In the previous sections, we separately considered the effect of the majority preference (Sect Equation (8)  We obtain a c1 ≈ 1.43 and a c2 ≈ 2.81 in (a) and a c1 ≈ 1.91 and a c2 ≈ 3.29 in (b). We calculate the sizes of the attractive basins as follows. First, we take the initial condition (x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ) = (0.01i, 0.01j, 0.01k), where i, j, k ≥ 1, i + j + k = 100, for n = 3 and (x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , x 4 ) = (0.05i, 0.05j, 0.05k, 0.05ℓ), where i, j, k, ℓ ≥ 1, i + j + k + ℓ = 20, for n = 4. Second, we run the dynamics starting from each initial condition until the trajectory converges. Third, we count fraction of the initial conditions that converge to each stable equilibrium.  When n ≥ 3, the multistablity occurs except in the case of the pure majority preference (i.e., β = a). The multistable parameter region enlarges as n increases.

Discussion
We analyzed an extended AS model with n states. We showed that the introduction of the minority aversion as compared to the majority preference changes the behavior of the model with n ≥ 3 in two main aspects. First, different states stably coexist up to a larger a value with the minority aversion than  with the majority preference. Nevertheless, it should be noted that a is the exponent associated with different quantities in the two cases (Eq. (3)). Second, the multistability of the consensus equilibria and the coexistence equilibrium is facilitated by the minority aversion and opposed by the majority preference.
We verified that the main results also hold true in the case of more general transition rates than Eq. (3), expressed as Volovik and colleagues examined mean-field dynamics of a three-state opinion formation model with minority aversion [34]. Coexistence of at least two states occurs in their model even if a random choice term, equivalent to diffusive coupling, which the authors assumed, is turned off. This is because only the most minor state decreases in the number of individuals and the other two major states are equally strong in their model. In our model, the most major and second major states have different strengths in attracting individuals, and the coexistence equilibrium is stable only for small a.
Fu and Wang considered the combined effects of the majority preference and minority avoidance on coevolution of opinions and network structure [10].
They assumed that the majority preference is used for collective opinion formation and the minority avoidance guides network formation. They showed that segregated groups, each composed of individuals with the same opinion, evolve when the minority avoidance is dominantly used. The coexistence of multiple states owing to the segregation has also been shown in spatially extended AS models [28,29]. We showed that coexistence of different states is facilitated by the minority aversion, not by the majority preference, and that stable coexistence occurs without segregation, or other spatial or network mechanisms.
Nowak and colleagues analyzed a replicator-mutator equation as a model of language evolution [27]. They showed that coexistence of different grammars (i.e., states in our terminology) and a consensus-like configuration in which one grammar dominates the others are multistable when a learning parameter takes an intermediate value. If the learning is accurate, the consensus-like configuration becomes monostable. Our model and theirs differ in at least two aspects. First, the control parameter in our model is a, that is, the strength of the sum of the majority preference and minority aversion. Second, the stable coexistence in our model requires some minority aversion, whereas their model takes into account the majority preference but not the minority aversion.
acknowledge financial support provided through Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No.

A Unimodality of the Lyapunov function
We denote the Hessian of V (x) by H(V ), which is an (n − 1) × (n − 1) matrix owing to the conservation law n i=1 x i = 1. We obtain where xn = 1 − n−1 i=1 x i and sn = 1 − n−1 i=1 s i . For any x, H(V ) is positive (negative) definite for a < 1 (a > 1) because for any (n−1)-dimensional nonzero vector y. Therefore, V (x) is strictly convex (concave) for a < 1 (a > 1) and hence has a unique global extremum at x * , which realizes the minimum (maximum) of V (x).

B Eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix in the consensus equilibria
On the basis of Eqs. (1) and (3), the (n − 1) × (n − 1) Jacobian matrix (J ij ) = (∂ẋ i /∂x j ) and where and By exploiting symmetry, we examine the Jacobian matrix at the consensus equilibrium given by x i = 0 (1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1) and xn = 1. In this case, Eqs. (13) and (14) are reduced to and respectively. Therefore, irrespective of the value of β, the eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix, denoted by λ i (1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1), are given by A model of competition among more than two languages 21 C Coexistence equilibrium when a → ∞ For general n, Eq. (7) implies that is satisfied at the equilibrium. In particular, we obtain Equation (22) leads to Because the third term on each side of Eq. (23) is negligible, we obtain The coexistence implies that x * i and x * j do not tend to 0 as a → ∞. Therefore, Eq. (24) leads to x * i = x * j in the limit a → ∞. Therefore,  (13) and (14) are reduced to and respectively. Therefore, the eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix are (n − 1)-fold degenerate and given by
By exploiting symmetry, we consider the coexistence equilibrium of n ′ states given by In this case, Eqs. (13) and (14) with s i = 1 (1 ≤ i ≤ n) are reduced to The eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix are the diagonal entries because the Jacobian matrix is a triangular matrix. Therefore, we obtain for 1 ≤ i ≤ n − n ′ and for n − n ′ + 1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1. Equations (30) and (31) imply that at least one eigenvalue is positive unless a = β = 1. When a = β = 1, all the eigenvalues are equal to zero.

E Analysis of a generalized model
Consider a variant of the extended AS model in which the transition rate given by Eq. (3) is replaced by where 0 ≤ γ ≤ 1. Equation (3) is reproduced with γ = 1. Here, the exponents γ and 1 − γ represent the strength of the preference for a strong state and the aversion to a weak state, respectively.
A model of competition among more than two languages 23 In the case of the majority preference (i.e., β = a), Eq. (1) with the transition rates given by Eq. (32) has n trivial equilibria corresponding to the consensus and an interior equilibrium given by There also exists a unique equilibrium composed of arbitrarily chosen n ′ states (2 ≤ n ′ ≤ n − 1). The Lyapunov function is given by V (x) is a Lyapunov function because and where A ≡ s γ x a−1 and B ≡ (1 − s) 1−γ .
We have no proof of the unimodality of V (x). However, we numerically verified the unimodality for n = 3. These results are the same as those obtained in the main text for γ = 1 (Sect. 3.1).
For any β, the Jacobian matrix (J ij ) = (∂ẋ i /∂x j ) is given by Eqs. (13) and (14), where and In the consensus equilibrium given by x i = 0 (1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1) and xn = 1, Eqs. (13) and (14) are reduced to and respectively. Therefore, the eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix are given by and the consensus equilibrium is stable if a > 1.
In the case of the minority aversion (i.e., β = 0), when n = 3, the sizes of the attractive basins for different equilibria for γ = 0 and γ = 0.5 are shown in Figs. 7a and 7b, respectively.
The results are qualitatively the same as those for γ = 1 (Fig. 5a).