Evolution of language: An empirical study at eBay Big Data Lab

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 12; no. 12; p. e0189107
• Main Authors: Bodoff, David, Bekkerman, Ron, Dai, Julie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 20.12.2017; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Analysis; Big Data; Biology and Life Sciences; Computer science; Consumers; Conventions; Data management; Empirical Research; Evolution; Evolution (Biology); Evolutionary theories; Humans; Keywords; Knowledge management; Laboratories; Language; Language Development; Linguistics; Markets; Origin of language; Philosophy; Physical Sciences; Population; Social Sciences; Sociology; Studies; Synonyms; Trends
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189107

The evolutionary theory of language predicts that a language will tend towards fewer synonyms for a given object. We subject this and related predictions to empirical tests, using data from the eBay Big Data Lab which let us access all records of the words used by eBay vendors in their item titles, and by consumers in their searches. We find support for the predictions of the evolutionary theory of language. In particular, the mapping from object to words sharpens over time on both sides of the market, i.e. among consumers and among vendors. In addition, the word mappings used on the two sides of the market become more similar over time. Our research contributes to the literature on language evolution by reporting results of a truly unique large-scale empirical study.