Computer modelling as a tool for understanding language evolution

This paper describes the uses of computer models in studying the evolution of language. Language is a complex dynamic system that can be studied at the level of the individual and at the level of the population. Much of the dynamics of language evolution and language change occur because of the interaction of these two levels. It is argued that this interaction is too complicated to study with pen-and-paper analysis alone and that computer models, therefore, provide a useful tool for understanding language evolution. Different techniques are presented: direct optimization, genetic algorithms and agent-based models. Of each of these techniques, an example is briefly presented. Also, the importance of correctly measuring and presenting the results of computer simulations is stressed.

[1]  Bart de Boer,et al.  Self-organization in vowel systems , 2000, J. Phonetics.

[2]  R. G. Kent,et al.  Language: Its Nature, Development, and Origin , 1923 .

[3]  A. Hastings,et al.  Chaos in a Three-Species Food Chain , 1991 .

[4]  Inman Harvey,et al.  Fourth European Conference on Artificial Life , 1997 .

[5]  C. D. Gelatt,et al.  Optimization by Simulated Annealing , 1983, Science.

[6]  B. D. Boer,et al.  Emergence of Speech Sounds in Changing Populations , 1999 .

[7]  Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz,et al.  The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants , 1990, The Virtual Laboratory.

[8]  Melissa A. Redford and Chun Chi Chen and Risto Miikkulainen Modeling The Emergence Of Syllable Systems , 1998 .

[9]  A. MacLarnon,et al.  The evolution of human speech: the role of enhanced breathing control. , 1999, American journal of physical anthropology.

[10]  M. Studdert-Kennedy,et al.  The evolutionary emergence of language : social function and the origins of linguistic form , 2000 .

[11]  Luc Steels,et al.  The synthetic modeling of language origins , 1997 .

[12]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  वाक्यविन्यास का सैद्धान्तिक पक्ष = Aspects of the theory of syntax , 1965 .

[13]  J. Scharf [Language evolution]. , 1973, Gegenbaurs morphologisches Jahrbuch.

[14]  Melissa A. Redford,et al.  Constrained Emergence of Universals and Variation in Syllable Systems , 2001, Language and speech.

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

[16]  M. Studdert-Kennedy,et al.  Approaches to the Evolution of Language , 1999 .

[17]  Patrick Brézillon,et al.  Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence , 1999 .

[18]  David E. Goldberg,et al.  Genetic Algorithms in Search Optimization and Machine Learning , 1988 .

[19]  Angelo Cangelosi,et al.  Simulating the Evolution of Language , 2002, Springer London.

[20]  B. Lindblom,et al.  Numerical Simulation of Vowel Quality Systems: The Role of Perceptual Contrast , 1972 .

[21]  M. Cartmill,et al.  The hypoglossal canal and the origin of human vocal behavior. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[22]  Luc Steels,et al.  Synthesising the origins of language and meaning using co-evolution, self-organisation and level formation , 1998 .

[23]  Alison Wray,et al.  The transition to language , 2002 .

[24]  Marco Dorigo,et al.  Distributed Optimization by Ant Colonies , 1992 .

[25]  Luc Steels Iterated learning versus language games. Two models for cultural language evolution , 2002 .

[26]  M. Leroy Saussure (Ferdinand de), Cours de linguistique générale. Edition critique préparée par Tullio de Mauro , 1977 .

[27]  J. Baldwin A New Factor in Evolution , 1896, The American Naturalist.

[28]  L. Steels,et al.  coordinating perceptually grounded categories through language: a case study for colour , 2005, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[29]  Bart de Boer,et al.  Generating Vowel Systems in a Population of Agents , 2004 .

[30]  Miquel Sànchez-Marrè,et al.  Collaboration between Human and Artificial Societies , 1999, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[31]  Craig W. Reynolds Flocks, herds, and schools: a distributed behavioral model , 1987, SIGGRAPH.

[32]  Edwin D. de Jong,et al.  Coordination Developed by Learning from Evaluations , 1999, Collaboration between Human and Artificial Societies.

[33]  Bart de Boer,et al.  The Origins of Vowel Systems , 2001 .

[34]  Simon Kirby,et al.  Function, Selection, and Innateness: The Emergence of Language Universals , 1999 .

[35]  Bart de Boer,et al.  Emergence of Speech Sounds in Changing Population , 1999, ECAL.

[36]  Simon Kirby,et al.  Natural Language From Artificial Life , 2002, Artificial Life.

[37]  B. Russel,et al.  Generating Vowel Systems in a Population of Agents , 1997 .