Role of bilinguals in language competition

The role of bilinguals in the competition between two languages and in the formation of a bilingual community is studied through a simple three-state model, that generalizes and merges some features of the Minett–Wang model and of the Baggs–Freedman model. In the new model bilinguals can be regarded at different levels as valid representatives of the other language depending on the parameters values. The model can predict different scenarios, i.e. the existence of a stable bilingual community or the survival of a single language.