Grammatical Acquisition : Inductive Bias andCoevolution of Language and the LanguageAcquisition

An account of grammatical acquisition is developed within the parameter-setting framework applied to a generalized categorial grammar (GCG). The GCG is embedded in a default inheritance network yielding a natural partial ordering (reeecting generality) of parameters which determines a partial order for parameter setting. Computational simulation shows that several resulting acquisition procedures are eeective on a parameter set expressing major typological distinctions based on constituent order, and deening 70 distinct full languages and over 200 subset languages. The eeects on acquisition of inductive bias, that is, of diiering initial parameter settings, are explored via computational simulation. Computational simulation of populations of language learners and users instantiating the acquisition model show: 1) that variant acquisition procedures , with diiering inductive biases, exert diiering selective pressures on the evolution of language(s); 2) acquisition procedures will evolve towards more eecient variants in the environment of adaptation. The reciprocal evolution of language acquisition procedures and of languages creates a genuinely co-evolutionary dynamic, despite the relative speed of linguistic selection for language variants compared to natural selection for variant language acquisition procedures. and four anonymous reviewers for Language kindly gave comments on earlier drafts which helped considerably improve the present one.

[1]  Luc Steels,et al.  Language as a Complex Adaptive System , 2000, PPSN.

[2]  T. Jukes,et al.  The neutral theory of molecular evolution. , 2000, Genetics.

[3]  M. Studdert-Kennedy,et al.  Synthesizing the Origins of Language and Meaning Using Coevolution, Self-organization and Level Formation. Evolution of Communi- Cation in Artiicial Organisms , 2000 .

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

[5]  J. Holland Echoing emergence: objectives, rough definitions, and speculations for ECHO-class models , 1999 .

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

[7]  D. Lightfoot The development of language , 1999 .

[8]  E. J. Briscoe,et al.  The Acquisition of Grammar in an Evolving Population of Language Agents , 1999, Electron. Trans. Artif. Intell..

[9]  E. Gibson Linguistic complexity: locality of syntactic dependencies , 1998, Cognition.

[10]  Partha Niyogi,et al.  Evolutionary Consequences of Language Learning , 1997 .

[11]  Ted Briscoe,et al.  Co-Evolution of Language and of the Language Acquisition Device , 1997, ACL.

[12]  W. Bruce Croft On language change: The invisible hand in language , 1997 .

[13]  Mark Steedman,et al.  Surface structure and interpretation , 1996, Linguistic inquiry.

[14]  R. Dixon The rise and fall of languages , 1997 .

[15]  James R. Hurford,et al.  Learning, Culture and Evolution in the Origin of Linguistic Constraints , 1997 .

[16]  S. Kirby,et al.  The evolution of incremental learning: language, development and critical periods , 1997 .

[17]  A. Kroch,et al.  Verb Movement in Old and Middle English: Dialect Variation and Language Contact , 1997 .

[18]  Ð. Blockin Co-evolution of Language and of the Language A quisition , 1997 .

[19]  S. Kirby,et al.  Competing motivations and emergence: Explaining implicational hierarchies , 1997 .

[20]  Michael Oliphant,et al.  Learning and the Emergence of Coordinated Communication , 1997 .

[21]  Thomas G. Dietterich What is machine learning? , 2020, Archives of Disease in Childhood.

[22]  K. Gallagher Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life , 1996 .

[23]  P. Niyogi,et al.  A language learning model for finite parameter spaces , 1996, Cognition.

[24]  M. Brent Advances in the computational study of language acquisition , 1996, Cognition.

[25]  Giles Mayley,et al.  Landscapes, Learning Costs, and Genetic Assimilation , 1996, Evolutionary Computation.

[26]  D. Ivers Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life , 1996, Politics and the Life Sciences.

[27]  L. Cosmides,et al.  Are humans good intuitive statisticians after all? Rethinking some conclusions from the literature on judgment under uncertainty , 1996, Cognition.

[28]  S. Kapur,et al.  On the use of triggers in parameter setting , 1996 .

[29]  Simon Kirby,et al.  Fitness and the selective adaptation of language , 1996 .

[30]  S. Bertolo Maturation and Learnability in Parametric Systems , 1995 .

[31]  Alice C. Harris,et al.  Historical Syntax in Cross-Linguistic Perspective , 1995 .

[32]  Filippo Menczer,et al.  Maturation and the Evolution of Imitative Learning in Artificial Organisms , 1995, Adapt. Behav..

[33]  Aravind K. Joshi,et al.  A Processing Model for Free Word Order Languages , 1995, ArXiv.

[34]  David Milward Incremental Interpretation of Categorial Grammar , 1995, EACL.

[35]  L. Jorde,et al.  Genetic evidence on modern human origins. , 1995, Human biology.

[36]  John A. Hawkins,et al.  A Performance Theory of Order and Constituency , 1995 .

[37]  E. Jablonka Epigenetic inheritance and evolution , 1995 .

[38]  Gary Cziko,et al.  Without Miracles: Universal Selection Theory and the Second Darwinian Revolution , 1995 .

[39]  Arantxa Etxeverria The Origins of Order , 1993 .

[40]  Alice C. Harris,et al.  Historical Syntax in Cross-Linguistic Perspective: The history of historical syntax: major themes , 1995 .

[41]  John R. Koza,et al.  Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity. , 1995, Artificial Life.

[42]  Beryl Hoffman,et al.  Computational analysis of the syntax and interpretation of "free" word order in Turkish , 1995 .

[43]  G. Morrill Type logical grammar - categorial logic of signs , 1994 .

[44]  A Pomiankowski GAMES OF LIFE - EXPLORATIONS IN ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOR - SIGMUND,K , 1994 .

[45]  Gosse Bouma,et al.  Constraint-Based Categorial Grammar , 1994 .

[46]  M. Gopnik,et al.  Impairments of tense in a familial language disorder , 1994, Journal of Neurolinguistics.

[47]  A. Kondrashov,et al.  Games of life — Explorations in ecology, evolution & behaviour: by Karl Sigmund Oxford University Press, 1993. £9.95 pbk, £30.00 hbk (vi + 244 pages) ISBN 0 19 854665 3 , 1994 .

[48]  Michael Frame,et al.  Chaos Under Control: The Art and Science of Complexity , 1994 .

[49]  S. Pinker The Language Instinct , 1994 .

[50]  Shyam Kapur,et al.  The Automatic Construction of a Symbolic Parser Via Statistical Techniques , 1994 .

[51]  E. Clark JCL volume 22 issue 1 Cover and Back matter , 1995, Journal of Child Language.

[52]  J. Elman Learning and development in neural networks: the importance of starting small , 1993, Cognition.

[53]  Inman Harvey The Puzzle of the Persistent Question Marks : A Case Study of Genetic Drift , 1993, ICGA.

[54]  Noam Chomsky Some notes on economy of derivation and representation , 2013 .

[55]  A. Baddeley Working Memory: The Interface between Memory and Cognition , 1992, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[56]  R. Clark The Selection of Syntactic Knowledge , 1992 .

[57]  M. Just,et al.  Individual differences in syntactic processing: The role of working memory , 1991 .

[58]  James R. Hurford,et al.  The evolution of the critical period for language acquisition , 1991, Cognition.

[59]  Ianthi Maria Tsimpli,et al.  Linguistic modularity? A case study of a 'Savant' linguist* , 1991 .

[60]  Edward Gibson,et al.  A computational theory of human linguistic processing: memory limitations and processing breakdown , 1991 .

[61]  David Lightfoot,et al.  Subjacency and Sex. , 1991 .

[62]  M. Ghiselin,et al.  Coevolution: Genes, Culture, and Human Diversity , 1991, Politics and the Life Sciences.

[63]  Stuart A. Kauffman,et al.  The origins of order , 1993 .

[64]  David H. Ackley,et al.  Interactions between learning and evolution , 1991 .

[65]  S. Pinker,et al.  Natural language and natural selection , 1990, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[66]  Joseph H. Greenberg,et al.  Some Universals of Grammar with Particular Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements , 1990, On Language.

[67]  B. Dresher,et al.  A computational learning model for metrical phonology , 1990, Cognition.

[68]  Peter M. Duppenthaler Maturational Constraints on Language Learning , 1990 .

[69]  David J. Weir,et al.  The convergence of mildly context-sensitive grammar formalisms , 1990 .

[70]  G. Sampson LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: GROWTH OR LEARNING? , 1989 .

[71]  A. Kroch Reflexes of grammar in patterns of language change , 1989, Language Variation and Change.

[72]  James R. Hurford,et al.  Biological evolution of the Saussurean sign as a component of the language acquisition device , 1989 .

[73]  E. J. Briscoe Modelling Human Speech Comprehension: A computational approach , 1988 .

[74]  Mark Steedman,et al.  Combinators and Grammars , 1988 .

[75]  Gerald Gazdar,et al.  Applicability of Indexed Grammars to Natural Languages , 1988 .

[76]  Geoffrey E. Hinton,et al.  How Learning Can Guide Evolution , 1996, Complex Syst..

[77]  M. Dawkins,et al.  Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior , 1988 .

[78]  M. Rita Manzini,et al.  Parameters and Learnability in Binding Theory , 1987 .

[79]  John Maynard Smith,et al.  When learning guides evolution , 1987, Nature.

[80]  James L. Morgan,et al.  From Simple Input to Complex Grammar , 1986 .

[81]  Nina Hyams,et al.  Language Acquisition and the Theory of Parameters , 1986 .

[82]  B. Lindblom Phonetic Universals in Vowel Systems , 1986 .

[83]  Robert C. Berwick,et al.  The acquisition of syntactic knowledge , 1985 .

[84]  Eric Wanner,et al.  Language acquisition: the state of the art , 1982 .

[85]  R. Dawkins The Extended Phenotype , 1982 .

[86]  D. Bickerton The roots of language , 2016 .

[87]  J. Roughgarden Theory of Population Genetics and Evolutionary Ecology: An Introduction , 1995 .

[88]  GEOFFREY K. PULLUM Languages with object before subject: a comment and a catalogue , 1981 .

[89]  Kenneth Wexler,et al.  Formal Principles of Language Acquisition , 1980 .

[90]  J. Roughgarden,et al.  Theory of Population Genetics and Evolutionary Ecology , 1979 .

[91]  David Lightfoot,et al.  Principles of diachronic syntax , 1979 .

[92]  C. Waddington The evolution of an evolutionist , 1975 .

[93]  E. Newport MOTHERESE: THE SPEECH OF MOTHERS TO YOUNG CHILDREN. , 1975 .

[94]  R. Sokal Evolutionary Genetics , 1972, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[95]  C. Waddington Canalization of Development and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters , 1942, Nature.

[96]  A. I.,et al.  Neural Field Continuum Limits and the Structure–Function Partitioning of Cognitive–Emotional Brain Networks , 2023, Biology.

[97]  H. H. Newman The Theory of Evolution , 1917, Botanical Gazette.

[98]  P. Smith,et al.  The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex , 1871, Nature.

[99]  Ted Briscoe Evolutionary Perspectives on Diachronic Syntax , 2022 .