The evolution of case systems for marking event structure

Case has fascinated linguists for centuries without however revealing its most important secrets. This paper offers operational explanations for case through language game experiments in which autonomous agents describe real-world events to each other. The experiments demonstrate (a) why a language may develop a case system, (b) how a population can self-organize a case system, and (c) why and how an existing case system may take on new functions in a language.

[1]  Luc Steels,et al.  A Self-Organizing Spatial Vocabulary , 1995, Artificial Life.

[2]  Martin Haspelmath,et al.  The geometry of grammatical meaning: Semantic maps and cross-linguistic comparison , 2003 .

[3]  Robert D. van Valin,et al.  Semantic macroroles in Role and Reference Grammar , 2001 .

[4]  Martin Haspelmath,et al.  The Dative: Volume 1: Descriptive studies , 1996 .

[5]  B. Comrie.  Alignment of case marking , 2005 .

[6]  Remi van Trijp.  A design pattern for argument structure constructions , 2011 .

[7]  A. Goldberg.  Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure , 1995 .

[8]  W. Bruce Croft.  Syntactic Categories and Grammatical Relations , 1990 .

[9]  Inés Fernández-Ordóñez.  Leísmo, laísmo y loísmo: estado de la cuestión , 1993 .

[10]  Luc Steels,et al.  Multi-level Selection in the Emergence of Language Systematicity , 2007, ECAL.

[11]  Luc Steels,et al.  A first encounter with Fluid Construction Grammar , 2011 .

[12]  David Gil,et al.  How Much Grammar Does It Take to Sail a Boat? (Or, What Can Material Artefacts Tell Us About the Evolution of Language?) , 2008 .

[13]  G. Jäger,et al.  Evolutionary Game Theory and Typology: A Case Study , 2007 .

[14]  H. Clahsen,et al.  Structural and Lexical Case in Child German: Evidence From Language-Impaired and Typically Developing Children , 2006 .

[15]  Luc Steels,et al.  Language re-entrance and the 'inner voice'. , 2003 .

[16]  Luc Steels,et al.  How to make construction grammars fluid and robust , 2011 .

[17]  Jóhanna Barðdal.  The rise of Dative Substitution in the history of Icelandic: A diachronic construction grammar account , 2011 .

[18]  Mengistu Amberber.  Chapter 1 – Competition and Variation in Natural Languages: The Case for Case , 2005 .

[19]  Michael Cysouw,et al.  Building semantic maps: the case of person marking , 2007 .

[20]  Shobhana Lakshmi Chelliah,et al.  Introduction: The role of semantic, pragmatic and discourse factors in the development of case , 2009 .

[21]  Remi van Trijp.  Grammaticalization and Semantic Maps: Evidence from Artificial Language , 2010 .

[22]  Luc Steels,et al.  Shared grounding of event descriptions by autonomous robots , 2003, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[23]  Martin Haspelmath,et al.  Does grammaticalization need reanalysis , 1998 .

[24]  Andrew Spencer,et al.  The Oxford Handbook of Case , 2008 .

[25]  Luc Steels,et al.  Constructivist Development of Grounded Construction Grammar , 2004, ACL.

[26]  David R. Dowty.  Thematic proto-roles and argument selection , 1991 .

[27]  Luc Steels,et al.  The Grounded Naming Game , 2012 .

[28]  Pieter Wellens,et al.  Organizing constructions in networks , 2011 .

[29]  Beth Levin,et al.  Argument Realization , 2005 .

[30]  Miriam Butt,et al.  Theories of case , 2006 .

[31]  David Lightfoot,et al.  Explaining language change: an evolutionary approach , 2002 .

[32]  Geoffrey Sampson,et al.  Language complexity as an evolving variable , 2009 .

[33]  H. Clahsen,et al.  Morphological paradigms in language processing and language disorders , 2001 .

[34]  Jóhanna Barðdal,et al.  Case in Decline , 2008 .

[35]  A Design Pattern for Argument Structure Constructions , 2011 .

[36]  M. Butt,et al.  WHAT MORPHOLOGY CAN TELL US ABOUT GRAMMAR , 2005 .

[37]  Jóhanna Barðdal.  The development of case in Germanic , 2009 .

[38]  Luc Steels,et al.  Linking in Fluid Construction Grammars , 2005, BNAIC.

[39]  Luc Steels,et al.  Design patterns in fluid construction grammar , 2011 .

[40]  Joanna Moy,et al.  Word order and case in models of simulated language evolution , 2005 .

[41]  Luc Steels,et al.  Introduction. Self-organization and selection in cultural language evolution , 2012 .

[42]  Remi van Trijp.  Feature Matrices and Agreement: A Case Study for German Case , 2011 .

[43]  G. Müller.  Remarks on nominal inflection in German , 2002 .

[44]  Luc Steels,et al.  What triggers the emergence of grammar , 2005 .

[45]  Luc Steels,et al.  Flexible word meaning in embodied agents , 2008, Connect. Sci..