[Doctor Stochastic]

Nice article. I'll check the original later today. I find it interesting (meaning I hadn't already thought of it) that mutations that occur on the boundaries spread more widely than those at the center. It would be fun to do a similar model with linguistic chances (the Great Vowel Shift, Grimm's Law, The Great Germanic Consonant Shift, etc.)

I wonder what they used for "neutral" migration (unpressured by population, etc.) I would guess that a diffusion (random walk) would be a reasonable migration model in the absence of barriers.

[livius]

It would be fun to do a similar model with linguistic chances

Yes! Let me know if you ever do one.

[PatrickHenry]

It would be fun to do a similar model with linguistic chances ...

And cultural changes too. I'm specifically thinking of the American Revolution, which certainly could be regarded as on the "migratory wave front" of European civilization. My guess would be that in any culture's "heartland," the tendency would be toward stasis. There are probably examples going both ways.