Language Evolution and Computation Bibliography

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Edwin Hutchins
2010
Topics in Cognitive Science 2(4):705--715, 2010
Abstract Cognitive ecology is the study of cognitive phenomena in context. In particular, it points to the web of mutual dependence among the elements of a cognitive ecosystem. At least three fields were taking a deeply ecological approach to cognition 30 years ago: ...
2009
Topics in Cognitive Science, pages 523-546, 2009
Two decades of attempts to model the emergence of language as a collective cognitive activity have demonstrated a number of principles that might have been part of the historical process that led to language. Several models have demonstrated the emergence of structure in a ...MORE ⇓
Two decades of attempts to model the emergence of language as a collective cognitive activity have demonstrated a number of principles that might have been part of the historical process that led to language. Several models have demonstrated the emergence of structure in a symbolic medium, but none has demonstrated the emergence of the capacity for symbolic representation. The current shift in cognitive science toward theoretical frameworks based on embodiment is already furnishing computational models with additional mechanisms relevant to the emergence of symbolic language. An analysis of embodied interaction among captive, but not human-enculturated, bonobo chimpanzees reveals a number of additional features of embodiment that are relevant to the emergence of symbolic language, but that have not yet been explored in computational simulation models; for example, complementarity of action in addition to imitation, iconic in addition to indexical gesture, coordination among multiple sensory and perceptual modalities, and the orchestration of intra- and inter-individual motor coordination. The bonobos provide an evolutionarily plausible intermediate stage in the development of symbolic expression that can inform efforts to model the emergence of symbolic language.
2002
Auto-Organization and Emergence of Shared Language StructurePDF
Simulating the Evolution of Language 13.0:279-306, 2002
The principal goal of attempts to construct computational models of the emergence of language is to shed light on the kinds of processes that may have led to the development of such phenomena as shared lexicons and grammars in the history of the human species. ...
1998
Language and Cognitive Processes 13(2-3):373-424, 1998
We present a connectionist model that demonstrates how propositional structure can emerge from the interactions among the members of a community of simple cognitive agents. We first describe a process in which agents coordinating their actions and verbal productions with each ...MORE ⇓
We present a connectionist model that demonstrates how propositional structure can emerge from the interactions among the members of a community of simple cognitive agents. We first describe a process in which agents coordinating their actions and verbal productions with each other in a shared world leads to the development of propositional structures. We then present a simulation model which implements this process for generating propositions from scratch. We report and discuss the behaviour of the model in terms of its ability to produce three properties of propositions: (1) a coherent lexicon characterised by shared form-meaning mappings; (2) conventional structure in the sequences of forms; (3) the prediction of spatial facts. We show that these properties do not emerge when a single individual learns the task alone and conclude that the properties emerge from the demands of the communication task rather than from anything inside the individual agents. We then show that the shared structural principles can be described as a grammar, and discuss the implications of this demonstration for theories concerning the origins of the structure of language.
1995
How to invent a lexicon: the development of shared symbols in interactionPDF
Artificial Societies: The computer simulation of social life, 1995
In this paper, we elaborate upon the framework by considering more explicitly the problem of creating shared symbolic structure. A lexicon is (among other things) a set of public structures for denoting or implicating shared meanings. In other words, the existence of a lexicon ...MORE ⇓
In this paper, we elaborate upon the framework by considering more explicitly the problem of creating shared symbolic structure. A lexicon is (among other things) a set of public structures for denoting or implicating shared meanings. In other words, the existence of a lexicon requires the sharing of forms and meanings -- and mappings between these -- among members of an interacting population of agents. Leaving aside cosmic and theological events which could create such an outcome, how could a lexicon come to be? The solution provided here is based upon a convergence of agents' schemes for classifying visual phenomena. All agents have a capacity for such classification, but convergence upon a singular scheme is shaped by the constraints for consensus when employing the scheme in interaction with other agents.
1992
Learning in the Cultural ProcessPDF
Artificial Life II, pages 689--706, 1992
In this paper, we introduce a framework for simulating cultural process. The general idea is to simulate a world in which learning agents create external structures which mediate their behavior. This simulation demonstrates the simple (but very important) concept that such a ...MORE ⇓
In this paper, we introduce a framework for simulating cultural process. The general idea is to simulate a world in which learning agents create external structures which mediate their behavior. This simulation demonstrates the simple (but very important) concept that such a system is capable, through generations of time, of producing agents endowed with cognitive powers that are not attainable in the lifetime of any individual agent. We argue that such an outcome is possible without effecting the genetic organization of individuals. However, we also argue that the cultural process is capable of guiding both learning and phylogenetic evolution, which leaves open the possiblity of genetic organization tracking cultural process.