Here we simulate the impact of the Norman conquest of 1066 on modern communication strategies. The simulations inject a population of "Normans" into a population of "Anglo-Saxons" situated on a scale-free network and incorporate signaling games with a best-response learning dynamic. Various trials accounted for the assertion by modern historians that the salient systematic division of prestige seen in words of French versus Germanic origin is no accident but rather results from social conditions. The two main veins of exploration account for social context and social structure (i.e. network topology). They also illuminate that the conventions seen in modern English could have gone the other way without appropriate social conditions. In particular, we draw attention to the broad range of applicability of our results and methods to situations of invasive, stable populations integrated into a larger one.
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