Language Evolution and Computation Bibliography

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1998 :: PROCEEDINGS
ICMAS98
ICMAS98, pages 383-384, 1998
Abstract The paper describes a population of communicating agents, rewarded for successful dialogs. Agents encode and decode messages about their environment using the TAG formalism. Experimental results show that lexical and word order conventions spread ...
A New Approach to Class Formation in Multi-Agent Simulations of Language EvolutionPDF
ICMAS98, 1998
Abstract Multi-agent models of language evolution usually involve agents giving names to internal independently constructed categories. We present an approach in which the creation of categories is part of the language formation process itself. When an agent does ...
Artificial Life VI
Evolution of Linguistic Diversity in a Simple Communication SystemPDF
Artificial Life VI, pages 9-17, 1998
This paper reports on the current state of our efforts to shed light on the origin and evolution of linguistic diversity by using synthetic modeling and artificial life techniques. We construct a simple abstract model of a communication system that has been designed with regard ...MORE ⇓
This paper reports on the current state of our efforts to shed light on the origin and evolution of linguistic diversity by using synthetic modeling and artificial life techniques. We construct a simple abstract model of a communication system that has been designed with regard to referential signaling in nonhuman animals. The evolutionary dynamics of vocabulary sharing is analyzed based on these experiments. The results show that mutation rates, population size, and resource restrictions define the classes of vocabulary sharing. We also see a dynamic equilibrium, where two states, a state with one dominant shared word and a state with several dominant shared words, take turns appearing. We incorporate the idea of the abstract model into a more concrete situation and present an agent-based model to verify the results of the abstract model and to examine the possibility of using linguistic diversity in the field of distributed AI and robotics. It has been shown that the evolution of linguistic diversity in vocabulary sharing will support cooperative behavior in a population of agents.
Evolved Signals: Expensive Hype vs. Conspirational WhispersPDF
Artificial Life VI, pages 358-67, 1998
Stochasticity as a source of innovation in language gamesPDF
Artificial Life VI, 1998
Abstract Recent work on viewing language as a complex adaptive system has shown that self-organisation can explain how a group of distributed agents can reach a coherent set of linguistic conventions and how such a set can be preserved from one generation to the ...
Proceedings of Eighth Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands Conference
Language as a Complex Adaptive System: Coevolution of Language and of the Language Acquisition DevicePDF
Proceedings of Eighth Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands Conference, 1998
An account of parameter setting during grammatical acquisition is presented in terms of Generalized Categorial Grammar embedded in a multiple default inheritance hierarchy, providing a natural partial ordering on the setting of parameters (Briscoe, 1997a). ...
Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
Linguistic Relativity and Word Acquisition: A Computational ApproachPDF
Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, pages 244-249, 1998
Abstract Language plays a pervasive role in our day-to-day experience and is likely to have an effect on other non-linguistic aspects of life. At the same time, language is itself constrained by the world. In this paper we study this interaction using Playpen, a ...
Generalization, simple recurrent networks, and the emergence of structurePDF
Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1998
If human behavior were list-like, accounting for human behavior would be simple: Just enumerate the list of possible stereotypies. Alternatively, if behavior were predictable on the basis of abstract, fully-productive, context-insensitive rules, our task would be different but ...MORE ⇓
If human behavior were list-like, accounting for human behavior would be simple: Just enumerate the list of possible stereotypies. Alternatively, if behavior were predictable on the basis of abstract, fully-productive, context-insensitive rules, our task would be different but ...
Modeling the emergence of syllable systemsPDF
Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, pages 882-886, 1998
In this paper we present an approach to modeling emergent syllable systems using simulated evolution of a ``vocabulary'' of ``words.'' The model is aimed at testing the general hypothesis that language-universal sound patterns emerge from selection pressures exerted on the system ...MORE ⇓
In this paper we present an approach to modeling emergent syllable systems using simulated evolution of a ``vocabulary'' of ``words.'' The model is aimed at testing the general hypothesis that language-universal sound patterns emerge from selection pressures exerted on the system by the perceptual and articulatory constraints of language users. The model is able to distinguish between hypotheses about how specific, biologicallymotivated constraints affect the sound structure of language. For example, it is shown that mandibular oscillation provides a strong constraint on the sequential organization of phonemes into words. Future work will explore the potential of other constraints that, with mandibular oscillation, will be sufficient to describe the emergence of syllable systems.
Proceedings of the Tenth Netherlands/Belgium Conference on Artificial Intelligence NAIC'98
Emergence of sound systems through self-organisationPDF
Proceedings of the Tenth Netherlands/Belgium Conference on Artificial Intelligence NAIC'98, pages 37-46, 1998
The research described in this chapter attempts to explain the emergence and structure of systems of speech sounds. It investigates how a coherent system of speech sounds can emerge in a population of agents and how the constraints under which the system ...
The Development of a Lexicon Based on BehaviorPDF
Proceedings of the Tenth Netherlands/Belgium Conference on Artificial Intelligence NAIC'98, pages 27-36, 1998
Abstract This paper investigates whether a group of agents may develop a common lexicon relating words to situations by a process of self-organization. Each agent independently decides which situations are useful to distinguish, based on its experience with the ...
SAB98
Coevolving Communicative Behavior in a Linear Pursuer-Evader GamePDF
SAB98, pages 263--269, 1998
Abstract The pursuer-evader (PE) game is recognized as an important domain in which to study the coevolution of robust adaptive behavior and protean behavior (Miller and Cliff, 1994). Nevertheless, the potential of the game is largely unrealized due to methodological ...
Structural Coupling of Cognitive Memories Through Adaptive Language Games
SAB98, pages 263--269, 1998
Abstract The paper investigates how a group of distributed agents may develop congruent cognitive memories in the form of networks of prototypes. Memories are congruent if they structure reality in a sufficiently similar way for the agents to cooperate and communicate. ...
Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics (AROB 3rd'98)
Development of Meaning Structure by Usage-based Word RelationshipsPDF
Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics (AROB 3rd'98), pages 662--665, 1998
Abstract Development of meaning structure is studied from a usage-based viewpoint by a constructive approach. The meaning structure is represented by relationships between words. A word's relationship to other words, which represents meanings of the word, is ...
Proceedings of Sony Research Forum 1998
An architecture for evolving robust shared communication systems in noisy environmentsPDF
Proceedings of Sony Research Forum 1998, 1998
COLING-ACL98
Babel: A testbed for research in origins of languagePDF
COLING-ACL98, 1998
Abstract We believe that language is a complex adaptive system that emerges from adaptive interactions between language users and continues to evolve and adapt through repeated interactions. Our research looks at the mechanisms and processes involved in such ...
Spontaneous Lexicon ChangePDF
COLING-ACL98, pages 1243-1249, 1998
Abstract The paper argues that language change can be explained through the stochasticity observed in real-world natural language use. This thesis is demonstrated by modeling language use through language games played in an evolving population of agents. We ...
EuroGP 1998
EuroGP 1998, pages 83-96, 1998
We describe a Genetic Algorithm that can evolve complete programs. Using a variable length linear genome to govern how a Backus Naur Form grammar definition is mapped to a program, expressions and programs of arbitrary complexity may be evolved. Other automatic programming ...MORE ⇓
We describe a Genetic Algorithm that can evolve complete programs. Using a variable length linear genome to govern how a Backus Naur Form grammar definition is mapped to a program, expressions and programs of arbitrary complexity may be evolved. Other automatic programming methods are described, before our system, Grammatical Evolution, is applied to a symbolic regression problem.
Proceedings of the Second Asia-Pacific Conference on Simulated Evolution and Learning (SEAL98)
Proceedings of the Second Asia-Pacific Conference on Simulated Evolution and Learning (SEAL98), pages 357-364, 1998
We develop a new framework for studying the biases that recurrent neural networks bring to language processing tasks. A semantic concept represented by a point in Euclidian space is translated into a symbol sequence by an encoder network. This sequence is then fed to a decoder ...MORE ⇓
We develop a new framework for studying the biases that recurrent neural networks bring to language processing tasks. A semantic concept represented by a point in Euclidian space is translated into a symbol sequence by an encoder network. This sequence is then fed to a decoder network which attempts to translate it back to the original concept. We show how a pair of recurrent networks acting as encoder and decoder can develop their own symbolic language that is serially transmitted between them either forwards or backwards. The encoder and decoder bring different constraints to the task, and these early results indicate that the conflicting nature of these constraints may be reflected in the language that ultimately emerges, providing important clues to the structure of human languages.
The 2nd International Conference on the Evolution of Language
The evolution of a lexicon and meaning in robotic agents through self-organizationPDF
The 2nd International Conference on the Evolution of Language, 1998
This paper discusses interdisciplinary experiments, combining robotics and evolutionary computational linguistics. The goal of the experiments is to investigate if robotic agents can originate a language, in particular a lexicon. In the experiments two robots engage in a ...
1998 :: JOURNAL
Nature
Nature 391(6664):279-281, 1998
Deaf children whose access to usable conventional linguistic input, signed or spoken, is severely limited nevertheless use gesture to communicate. These gestures resemble natural language in that they are structured at the level both of sentence and of word. Although the ...MORE ⇓
Deaf children whose access to usable conventional linguistic input, signed or spoken, is severely limited nevertheless use gesture to communicate. These gestures resemble natural language in that they are structured at the level both of sentence and of word. Although the inclination to use gesture may be traceable to the fact that the deaf children's hearing parents, like all speakers, gesture as they talk, the children themselves are responsible for introducing language-like structure into their gestures. We have explored the robustness of this phenomenon by observing deaf children of hearing parents in two cultures, an American and a Chinese culture, that differ in their child-rearing practices and in the way gesture is used in relation to speech. The spontaneous sign systems developed in these cultures shared a number of structural similarities: patterned production and deletion of semantic elements in the surface structure of a sentence; patterned ordering of those elements within the sentence; and concatenation of propositions within a sentence. These striking similarities offer critical empirical input towards resolving the ongoing debate about the 'innateness' of language in human infants.
PNAS
The Hypoglossal Canal and the Origin of Human Vocal BehaviorPDF
PNAS 95(9):5417-5419, 1998
The mammalian hypoglossal canal transmits the nerve that supplies the muscles of the tongue. This canal is absolutely and relatively larger in modern humans than it is in the African apes (Pan and Gorilla). We hypothesize that the human tongue is supplied more richly with motor ...MORE ⇓
The mammalian hypoglossal canal transmits the nerve that supplies the muscles of the tongue. This canal is absolutely and relatively larger in modern humans than it is in the African apes (Pan and Gorilla). We hypothesize that the human tongue is supplied more richly with motor nerves than are those of living apes and propose that canal size in fossil hominids may provide an indication about the motor coordination of the tongue and reflect the evolution of speech and language. Canals of gracile Australopithecus, and possibly Homo habilis, fall within the range of extant Pan and are significantly smaller than those of modern Homo. The canals of Neanderthals and an early ``modern'' Homo sapiens (Skhul 5), as well as of African and European middle Pleistocene Homo (Kabwe and Swanscombe), fall within the range of extant Homo and are significantly larger than those of Pan troglodytes. These anatomical findings suggest that the vocal capabilities of Neanderthals were the same as those of humans today. Furthermore, the vocal abilities of Australopithecus were not advanced significantly over those of chimpanzees whereas those of Homo may have been essentially modern by at least 400,000 years ago. Thus, human vocal abilities may have appeared much earlier in time than the first archaeological evidence for symbolic behavior
PNAS 95(23):13994-13996, 1998
Linguistic evidence indicates that the Yeniseian family of languages, spoken in central Siberia, is most closely related to the Na-Dene family of languages spoken, for the most part, in northwestern North America. This hypothesis locates the source of one of the three migrations ...MORE ⇓
Linguistic evidence indicates that the Yeniseian family of languages, spoken in central Siberia, is most closely related to the Na-Dene family of languages spoken, for the most part, in northwestern North America. This hypothesis locates the source of one of the three migrations responsible for the peopling of the Americas.
Artificial Life
Artificial Life 4(1):109-124, 1998
This article reports on the current state of our efforts to shed light on the origin and evolution of linguistic diversity using synthetic modeling and artificial life techniques. We construct a simple abstract model of a communication system that has been designed with regard to ...MORE ⇓
This article reports on the current state of our efforts to shed light on the origin and evolution of linguistic diversity using synthetic modeling and artificial life techniques. We construct a simple abstract model of a communication system that has been designed with regard to referential signaling in nonhuman animals. We analyze the evolutionary dynamics of vocabulary sharing based on these experiments. The results show that mutation rates, population size, and resource restrictions define the classes of vocabulary sharing. We also see a dynamic equilibrium, where two states, a state with one dominant shared word and a state with several dominant shared words, take turns appearing. We incorporate the idea of the abstract model into a more concrete situation and present an agent-based model to verify the results of the abstract model and to examine the possibility of using linguistic diversity in the field of distributed AI and robotics. It has been shown that the evolution of linguistic diversity in vocabulary sharing will support cooperative behavior in a population of agents.
Connection Science
Connection Science 10(2):83-97, 1998
The evolution of language implies the parallel evolution of an ability to respond appropriately to signals (language understanding) and an ability to produce the appropriate signals in the appropriate circumstances (language production). When linguistic signals are produced to ...MORE ⇓
The evolution of language implies the parallel evolution of an ability to respond appropriately to signals (language understanding) and an ability to produce the appropriate signals in the appropriate circumstances (language production). When linguistic signals are produced to inform other individuals, individuals that respond appropriately to these signals may increase their reproductive chances but it is less clear what the reproductive advantage is for the language producers. We present simulations in which populations of neural networks living in an environment evolve a simple language with an informative function. Signals are produced to help other individuals categorize edible and poisonous mushrooms, in order to decide whether to approach or avoid encountered mushrooms. Language production, while not under direct evolutionary pressure, evolves as a byproduct of the independently evolving perceptual ability to categorize mushrooms.
Adaptive Behavior
Adaptive Behavior 6(2):285-324, 1998
This article presents a theoretical criticism of current approaches to the study of the evolution of communication. In particular two very common preconceptions about the subject are analysed: the role of natural selection in the definition of the phenomenon and the metaphor of ...MORE ⇓
This article presents a theoretical criticism of current approaches to the study of the evolution of communication. In particular two very common preconceptions about the subject are analysed: the role of natural selection in the definition of the phenomenon and the metaphor of communication as information exchange. An alternative characterization is presented in terms of autopoietic theory which avoids the mentioned preconceptions. In support of this view, the evolution of coordinated activity is studied in a population of artificial agents playing an interactional game. Dynamical modeling of this evolutionary process based on game-theoretic considerations shows the existence of an evolutionarily stable strategy in the total lack of coordinated activity which, however, may be unreachable due to the presence of a periodic attractor. In a computational model of the same game, action coordination evolves, even with individual costs against it, due to the presence of spatial structuring processes. A detailed explanation of this phenomenon, which does not require kin selection, is presented. In an extended game, recursive coordination evolves nontrivially when the participants share all the relevant information, demonstrating that the metaphor of information exchange can be misleading. It is shown that agents engaged in this sort of interaction are able to perform beyond their individual capabilities.
Evolution of Communication
A Functionalist Approach to Grammar and its EvolutionPDF
Evolution of Communication 2(2):249-278, 1998
On the Co-evolution of Language, Mind and Brain
Evolution of Communication 2(1):45-116, 1998
Journal of Quantitative Linguistics
Journal of Quantitative Linguistics 5(3):240-245, 1998
Synergetic models of language structure predict that the length of a word will depend upon various parameters such as its frequency and the number of phonemes in the language. This prediction has been used to explain word length differences within languages, but less often to ...MORE ⇓
Synergetic models of language structure predict that the length of a word will depend upon various parameters such as its frequency and the number of phonemes in the language. This prediction has been used to explain word length differences within languages, but less often to explain the differences between languages. Here I show that average word length across 12 West African languages is related to the size of the phonological inventory. This is an apparent example of the adaptation of language structure to the efficient communication of information. The hypothesised mechanism by which the relationship evolves are outlined.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
The frame/content model and syntactic evolution
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, pages 515-516, 1998
The frame/content theory of evolution of speech productionPDF
Behavioral and Brain Sciences 21:499-511, 1998
The species-specific organizational property of speech is a continual mouth open-close alternation, the two phases of which are subject to continual articulatory modulation. The cycle constitutes the syllable and the open and closed phases are segments - vowels and consonants ...MORE ⇓
The species-specific organizational property of speech is a continual mouth open-close alternation, the two phases of which are subject to continual articulatory modulation. The cycle constitutes the syllable and the open and closed phases are segments - vowels and consonants respectively. The fact that segmental serial ordering errors in normal adults obey syllable structure constraints suggests that syllabic ``Frames'' and segmental ``Content'' elements are separately controlled in the speech production process. The frames may derive from cycles of mandibular oscillation, present in humans from babbling onset, which are responsible for the open-close alternation. These communication-related frames perhaps first evolved when the ingestion-related cyclicities of mandibular oscillation (associated with mastication (chewing) sucking and licking) took on communicative significance as lipsmacks, tonguesmacks and teeth chatters - displays which are prominent in many nonhuman primates. The new role of Broca's area and its surround in human vocal communication may have derived from its evolutionary history as the main cortical center for the control of ingestive processes. The frame and content components of speech may have subsequently evolved separate realizations within two general-purpose primate motor control systems: (1) A motivation-related medial ``intrinsic'' system, including anterior cingulate cortex and the supplementary motor area, for self-generated behavior, formerly responsible for ancestral vocalization control and now also responsible for frames, and (2) a lateral ``extrinsic'' system, including Broca's area and surround, and Wernicke's area, specialized for response to external input (and therefore the emergent vocal learning capacity) and more responsible for Content.
The Times Literary Supplement
Review of ``The Symbolic Species: The co-evolution of language and the human brain'', by Terrence Deacon, 1997PDF
The Times Literary Supplement, pages 34, 1998
Language and Cognitive Processes
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.
Journal of English Linguistics
String frequency: a cognitive motivating factor in coalescence, language processing and linguistic change
Journal of English Linguistics 26:286-320, 1998
Résumé/Abstract Dans une perspective descriptive, l'A. examine les caractéristiques d'un changement spécifique à l'anglais actuel: l'encliticisation de've (< have). Dans ce processus, il est possible d'identifier une motivation cognitive centrale (Facteur Fréquence), qui ...
Annual Review of Psychology
Annual Review of Psychology 49:199-227, 1998
Recent work in language acquisition has shown how linguistic form emerges from the operation of self-organizing systems. The emergentist framework emphasizes ways in which the formal structures of language emerge from the interaction of social patterns, patterns implicit in the ...MORE ⇓
Recent work in language acquisition has shown how linguistic form emerges from the operation of self-organizing systems. The emergentist framework emphasizes ways in which the formal structures of language emerge from the interaction of social patterns, patterns implicit in the input, and pressures arising from general aspects of the cognitive system. Emergentist models have been developed to study the acquisition of auditory and articulatory patterns during infancy and the ways in which the learning of the first words emerges from the linkage of auditory, articulatory, and conceptual systems. Neural network models have also been used to study the learning of inflectional markings and basic syntactic patterns. Using both neural network modeling and concepts from the study of dynamic systems, it is possible to analyze language learning as the integration of emergent dynamic systems.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
Explaining global patterns of language diversityPDF
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 17(4):354-74, 1998
The six and a half thousand languages spoken by humankind are very unevenly distributed across the globe. Language diversity generally increases as one moves from the poles toward the equator and is very low in arid environments. Two belts of extremely high language diversity can ...MORE ⇓
The six and a half thousand languages spoken by humankind are very unevenly distributed across the globe. Language diversity generally increases as one moves from the poles toward the equator and is very low in arid environments. Two belts of extremely high language diversity can be identified. One runs through West and Central Africa, while the other covers South and South-East Asia and the Pacific. Most of the world's languages are found in these two areas. This paper attempts to explain aspects of the global distribution of language diversity. It is proposed that a key factor influencing it has been climatic variability. Where the climate allows continuous food production throughout the year, small groups of people can be reliably self-sufficient and so populations fragment into many small languages. Where the variability of the climate is greater, the size of social network necessary for reliable subsistence is larger, and so languages tend to be more widespread. A regression analysis relating the number of languages spoken in the major tropical countries to the variability of their climates is performed and the results support the hypothesis. The geographical patterning of languages has, however, begun to be destroyed by the spread of Eurasian diseases, Eurasian people, and the world economy.
Syntax: A Journal of Theoretical, Experimental, and Interdisciplinary Research
Syntax: A Journal of Theoretical, Experimental, and Interdisciplinary Research 1(2):192-205, 1998
In this article we present new results of a novel computational approach to the interaction of two important cognitive-linguistic phenomena: (1) language learning; and (2) language change over time (diachronic linguistics). We exploit the insight that while language learning ...MORE ⇓
In this article we present new results of a novel computational approach to the interaction of two important cognitive-linguistic phenomena: (1) language learning; and (2) language change over time (diachronic linguistics). We exploit the insight that while language learning takes place at the individual level, language change is more properly regarded as an ensemble property that takes place at the level of populations of language learners. We show by analytical and computer simulation methods that language learning can be regarded as the driving force behind a dynamical systems account of language change. We apply this model to the specific case of historical change from Classical Portuguese to European Portuguese, demonstrating how a particular language learning model coupled with data on the differences between Classical and European Portuguese leads to specific predictions for possible language-change envelopes. The main investigative message of this paper is to show how this methodology can be applied to a specific case, that of Portuguese. The main moral underscores the individual/population difference; we show that simply because an individual will choose a particular grammar does not mean that all other grammars will be eliminated.
Trends in Neurosciences
Trends in Neurosciences 21(5):188-194, 1998
In monkeys, the rostral part of ventral premotor cortex (area F5) contains neurons that discharge, both when the monkey grasps or manipulates objects and when it observes the experimenter making similar actions. These neurons (mirror neurons) appear to represent a system that ...MORE ⇓
In monkeys, the rostral part of ventral premotor cortex (area F5) contains neurons that discharge, both when the monkey grasps or manipulates objects and when it observes the experimenter making similar actions. These neurons (mirror neurons) appear to represent a system that matches observed events to similar, internally generated actions, and in this way forms a link between the observer and the actor. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and positron emission tomography (PET) experiments suggest that a mirror system for gesture recognition also exists in humans and includes Broca's area. We propose here that such an observation/execution matching system provides a necessary bridge from `doing' to `communicating', as the link between actor and observer becomes a link between the sender and the receiver of each message.
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 1(2):169-194, 1998
The paper proposes a complex adaptive systems approach to the formation of an ontology and a shared lexicon in a group of distributed agents with only local interactions and no central control authority. The underlying mechanisms are explained in some detail and results of some ...MORE ⇓
The paper proposes a complex adaptive systems approach to the formation of an ontology and a shared lexicon in a group of distributed agents with only local interactions and no central control authority. The underlying mechanisms are explained in some detail and results of some experiments with robotic agents are briefly reported.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence 103(1-2):133-156, 1998
The paper proposes a set of principles and a general architecture that may explain how language and meaning may originate and complexify in a group of physically grounded distributed agents. An experimental setup is introduced for concretising and validating specific mechanisms ...MORE ⇓
The paper proposes a set of principles and a general architecture that may explain how language and meaning may originate and complexify in a group of physically grounded distributed agents. An experimental setup is introduced for concretising and validating specific mechanisms based on these principles. The setup consists of two robotic heads that watch static or dynamic scenes and engage in language games, in which one robot describes to the other what they see. The first results from experiments showing the emergence of distinctions, of a lexicon, and of primitive syntactic structures are reported.
Language and Communication
Language and Communication 18(1):47-67, 1998
Much of the recent work on protolanguage has assumed that it contained a limited number of referential words in short sequences. However, there are good reasons for considering the possibility that it consisted of holistic utterances which performed two types of ...
1998 :: EDIT BOOK
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases
On discontinuing the continuity-discontinuity debate
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Computational simulations of the emergence of grammarPDF
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, pages 405-426, 1998
A model of simple agents capable of sending and receiving se- quences of characters and associating them with elements of a set of structured meanings is used to explore the emergence of systematic communication. In computational simulations, each member of a population ...MORE ⇓
A model of simple agents capable of sending and receiving se- quences of characters and associating them with elements of a set of structured meanings is used to explore the emergence of systematic communication. In computational simulations, each member of a population alternates between learning to interpret the sequences sent by other members, and sending sequences that others learn to interpret. Eventually the agents develop highly coordinated communication systems that incorporate structural regularities reminiscent of those in human languages.
Language evolution and the minimalist program: The origins of syntax
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Catastrophic evolution: The case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Synonymy avoidance, phonology and the origin of syntax
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Altruism, status, and the origin of relevancePDF
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, pages 130-147, 1998
We deal here with the problem of the origin of language from the point of view of pragmatics. Our aim is to show that any scenario of language origin should explain the relevance phenomenon. Why do people feel obliged to be relevant in casual conversation ? Analysing the ...MORE ⇓
We deal here with the problem of the origin of language from the point of view of pragmatics. Our aim is to show that any scenario of language origin should explain the relevance phenomenon. Why do people feel obliged to be relevant in casual conversation ? Analysing the structure of relevance leads to unexpected conclusions : relevant information is valuable, therefore language seems to be altruistic. As a consequence, from a Darwinian perspective, speakers should be rare and continually prompted for their knowledge. What we observe, however, is the exact opposite : in many situations, speakers repeatedly strive to make their point, while listeners systematically evaluate what they hear. A possible solution to this paradox is that language is not altruistic and that relevant information is traded for status. The observation of spontaneous conversation provides some evidence that supports such a hypothesis.
Mimesis and the executive suite: Missing links in language evolution
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Theory of mind and the evolution of language
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Introduction: The emergence of syntax
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Fitness and the selective adaptation of languagePDF
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, pages 359-383, 1998
The question that is at the centre of this paper is how can we go about explaining the observed constraints on variation across languages—in other words, language universais. 1 What makes many of these constraints interesting is that they appear to have'evolved'in ...
Introduction: Grounding language function in social cognition
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Ritual/speech co-evolution: A 'selfish gene' solution to the problem of deception
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
The development of sound systems in human languagePDF
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
This paper presents a few ideas on the question of what is a speech sound, and it takes as its point of departure the seminal work by Lindblom and coauthors, especially [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. So the aim is a contribution to the explanation of fundamental general phonetic ...
Systemic constraints and adaptive change in the formation of sound structure
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Social sound-making as a precursor to spoken language
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Evolution of the mechanisms of language output: Comparative neurobiology of vocal and manual communication
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
On the supposed 'counterfunctionality' of universal grammar: Some evolutionary considerations
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Old wives' tales: The gossip hypothesis and the reliability of cheap signals
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Synthesising the Origins of Language and Meaning Using Co-evolution, Self-organisation and Level formationPDF
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, pages 384-404, 1998
The paper reports on experiments in which robotic agents and software agents are set up to originate language and meaning. The experiments test the hypothesis that mechanisms for generating complexity commonly found in biosystems, in particular self-organisation, co-evolution, ...MORE ⇓
The paper reports on experiments in which robotic agents and software agents are set up to originate language and meaning. The experiments test the hypothesis that mechanisms for generating complexity commonly found in biosystems, in particular self-organisation, co-evolution, and level formation, also may explain the spontaneous formation, adaptation, and growth in complexity of language.
Introduction: The emergence of phonology
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
The particulate origins of language generativity: From syllable to gesture
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Generativity here refers to two 'creative'aspects of normal language use: unbounded scope of reference and freedom from control by identifiable stimuli (Chomsky 1966: passim). These two aspects, though oliviottsly independent, are closely reiated in their origin (as will be ...
Long call structure in apes as a possible precursor for language
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
The origin of language and cognition
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Two kinds of theories have dominated recent discussion of the origin of language (see Pinker & Bloom 1990): a continuity approach and its counterpart, a discontinuity approach (see Table 3.1). The continuity approach has often labelled itself Darwinian and looked for ...
The evolution of language from social intelligence
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, 1998
Multi-agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation
Multi-agent systems and Agent-Based Simulation 1534:124--139, 1998
Development of category structure in communication is studied by a constructive approach. Individuals having a word relation matrix as their internal structure communicate by uttering and accepting sentences. Words in sentences uttered are situated in relation with other ...
An Invitation to Cognitive Science, Volume 4: Methods, Models, and Conceptual Issues
The evolution of cognition: Questions we will never answerPDF
An invitation to cognitive science, Volume 4: Methods, models, and conceptual issues, 1998
The idea that many traits of human nature are strongly dependent on inherited characteristics has enjoyed varying degrees of popularity among psychologists and others since the publication of Darwin's The Origin of Species. Now, with the amazing advances ...
The Evolution of Language (Selected Papers from 2nd International Conference on the Evolution of Language
The Origin of Linguistic CategoriesPDF
The Evolution of Language (Selected papers from 2nd International Conference on the Evolution of Language, 1998
Abstract The paper presents cognitive mechanisms and behavioral rules by which a group of distributed autonomous agents may develop a joined shared repertoire of grammatical conventions. The grammar includes an emergent internal meta-level ontology which is ...
The Origins and Past of Modern Humans
Language and the Evolution of Modern HumansPDF
The Origins and Past of Modern Humans, pages 247-262, 1998
1998 :: BOOK
Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language
Harvard Univ Press, 1998
What a big brain we have for all the small talk we make. It's an evolutionary riddle that at long last makes sense in this intriguing book about what gossip has done for our talkative species. Psychologist Robin Dunbar looks at gossip as an instrument of social order and ...
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases
Cambridge University Press, 1998
This is one of the first systematic attempts to bring language within the neo-Darwinian framework of modern evolutionary theory. Twenty-four coordinated essays by linguists, phoneticians, anthropologists, psychologists and cognitive scientists explore the origins of ...
Eve Spoke: Human Language and Human Evolution
University of California Press, 1998
The human imagination never ceases to be captivated by the quest for its own roots. Who were our ancestors? In the evolutionary clash of brains and brawn, what was it that prevailed and made us, Homo sapiens, uniquely human? Today scientists cite language as the ...
1998 :: PHD THESIS
The Evolution of Animal Communication Systems: Questions of Function Examined through SimulationPDF
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex, 1998
Simulated evolution is used as a tool for investigating the selective pressures that have influenced the design of animal signalling systems. The biological literature on communication is first reviewed: central concepts such as the handicap principle and the view of signalling ...MORE ⇓
Simulated evolution is used as a tool for investigating the selective pressures that have influenced the design of animal signalling systems. The biological literature on communication is first reviewed: central concepts such as the handicap principle and the view of signalling as manipulation are discussed. The equation of ``biological function'' with ``adaptive value'' is then defended, along with a workable definition of communication. Evolutionary simulation models are advocated as a way of testing the coherence of a given theory. Contra some ALife enthusiasts, simulations are not alternate worlds worthy of independent study; in fact they fit naturally into a Quinean picture of scientific knowledge as a web of modifiable propositions. Existing simulation work on the evolution of communication is reviewed: much of it consists of simple proofs of concept that fail to make connections with existing theory. A particular model (MacLennan and Burghardt, 1994) of the evolution of referential communication in a co-operative context is replicated and critiqued in detail.

Evolutionary simulations are then presented that cover a range of ecological scenarios; the first is a general model of food- and alarm-calling. In such situations signallers and receivers can have common or conflicting interests; the model allows us to test the idea that a conflict of interests will lead to an arms race of ever more costly signals, whereas common interests will result in signals that are as cheap as possible. The second model is concerned with communication during aggressive interactions. Many animals use signals to settle contests, thus avoiding the costs associated with fighting. Conventional game-theoretic results suggest that the signalling of aggression or of strength will not be evolutionarily stable unless it is physically unfakeable, but some recent models imply that cost-free, arbitrary signals can be reliable indicators of both intent and ability. The simulation, which features continuous-time perception of the opponent's strategy, is an attempt to settle the question. The third model deals with sexual signalling, i.e., elaborate displays that are designed to persuade members of the opposite sex to mate. The results clarify the question of whether such displays are the pointless result of runaway sexual selection, or whether they function as honest and costly indicators of genetic quality.

The models predict the evolution of reliable communication in a surprisingly narrow range of circumstances; a serious gap remains between these predictions and the ethological data. Future directions for simulation work are discussed.