Here we set up a simple mathematical model for the interaction of this cognitive mechanism and the sociocultural context, which explains the occurrence frequencies of thousands of words in different languages during the past three centuries.
The frequency with which words are used presents regular oscillations of 16 years. We propose that these oscillations arise from a basic cognitive mechanism common to other cultural objects with life cycles, such as fashion. The words that belong to a topic of interest increase their frequency, which is then inhibited by saturation until interest is regained. Here we set up a simple mathematical model for the interaction of this cognitive mechanism and the sociocultural context, which explains the occurrence frequencies of thousands of words in different languages during the past three centuries. We show that oscillations are tuned to a critical point and are synchronized within word communities.