Peter Gardenfors
2006
Symbol Grounding and Beyond: Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on the Emergence and Evolution of Linguistic Communication, pages 16-30, 2006
We start by providing an evolutionary scenario for the emergence of semantics. It is argued that the evolution of anticipatory cognition and theory of mind in the hominids opened up for cooperation about future goals. This cooperation requires symbolic communication. The meanings ...MORE ⇓
We start by providing an evolutionary scenario for the emergence of semantics. It is argued that the evolution of anticipatory cognition and theory of mind in the hominids opened up for cooperation about future goals. This cooperation requires symbolic communication. The meanings of the symbols are established via a ``meeting of minds.'' The concepts in the minds of communicating individuals are modelled as convex regions in conceptual spaces. We then outline a mathematical framework based on fixpoints in continuous mappings between conceptual spaces that can be used to model such a semantics.
2004
Cooperation and the Evolution of Symbolic CommunicationPDF
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 237-256, 2004
Homo sapiens is the only species with a symbolic language. According to evolutionary theory, there should be some selective advantage that has fostered the development of language among humans. There are many proposals for such an evolutionary force. ...
1995
Language and the Evolution of CognitionPDF
Lund University Cognitive Studies 41, 1995
Abstract: The main purpose of this article is to discuss the kinds of mental representations that are required for language to evolve. Firstly, I distinguish between cued and detached representations. A cued representation stands for something that is present in the current ...