How to analyze linguistic change using mixed models, Growth Curve Analysis and Generalized Additive Modeling.

When doing empirical studies in the field of language evolution, change over time is an inherent dimension. This tutorial introduces readers to mixed models, Growth
Curve Analysis (GCA) and Generalized Additive Models (GAMs). These approaches are ideal for analyzing non-linear change over time where there are nested dependencies, such as time points within dyad (in repeated interaction experiments) or time points within chain (in iterated learning experiments). In addition, the tutorial gives recommendations for choices about model fitting. Annotated scripts in the supplementary materials provide the reader with R code to serve as a springboard for the reader’s own analyses.