The Road to Success: Assessing the Fate of Linguistic Innovations in Online Communities

06/15/2018

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by   Marco Del Tredici, et al.

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We investigate the birth and diffusion of lexical innovations in a large dataset of online social communities. We build on sociolinguistic theories and focus on the relation between the spread of a novel term and the social role of the individuals who use it, uncovering characteristics of innovators and adopters. Finally, we perform a prediction task that allows us to anticipate whether an innovation will successfully spread within a community.