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Syntax without Natural Selection: How compositionality emerges from vocabulary in a population of learners (1998) [70 citations — 7 self]

Abstract:

this paper I put forward a new approach to understanding the origins of some of the key ingredients in a syntactic system. I show, using a computational model, that compositional syntax is an inevitable outcome of the dynamics of observationally learned communication systems. In a simulated population of individuals, language develops from a simple idiosyncratic vocabulary with little expressive power, to a compositional system with high expressivity, nouns and verbs, and word order expressing meaning distinctions.

Citations

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2 Language evolution without natural selection: From vocabulary to syntax in a population of learners – 1998b
2 Populations of learners: the case of Portugese. Unpublished manuscript – NIYOGI - 1997
1 Fitness and the selective adaptation of language. In Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and cognitive – 1997b
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