This article discusses the possibility of adopting a complexity theory approach to the study of language policy and planning
(LPP). Besides, it argues that agent-based modelling provides a significant support in this sense. Indeed, while agent-based
modelling has become a major ally of researchers in the social sciences, it remains largely unexploited in the study of language-related
issues in society. As a central tool of complexity theory, agent-based models (ABMs) lend themselves particularly well to
the study of all sorts of complex systems. To provide justification for the use of ABMs in LPP, I show how language issues
display the typical traits of complex systems and how ABMs can easily translate ideas and notions from the literature into
computer-simulated processes. To support my argument, I discuss communication within multinational corporations as an example
of a highly complex language matter. In particular, I focus on how language skills impact the process of knowledge creation
and knowledge sharing among employees. By means of a model based on a number of straightforward rules, I show how poor language
skills (or an utter lack thereof) risks creating an unbalanced distribution of knowledge (and, consequently, of power) across
language groups and how this unbalanced distribution is very sensitive to initial conditions. On the contrary, average language
skills seem to support communication well enough to avoid skews that favour even slightly more numerous language groups.
Keywords:Language Multilingualism Knowledge Communication Complexity Agent-based
Forschungsbereich:Arbeitsmarktökonomie, Einkommen und soziale Sicherheit