Syntax out of Learning: the cultural evolution of structured communication in a population of induction algorithms (0) [16 citations — 3 self]
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author = {Simon Kirby},
title = {Syntax out of Learning: the cultural evolution of structured communication in a population of induction algorithms},
year = {}
}
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Abstract:
. A new approach to the origins of syntax in human language is presented. Using computational models of populations of learners, it is shown that compositional, recursive mappings are inevitable end-states of a cultural process of linguistic transmission. This is true even if the starting state is no language at all. It is argued that the way that knowledge of language is transmitted through a learning bottleneck profoundly inuences its emergent structure. This approach provides a radical alternative to one in which the structure of language is viewed as an innate, biological adaptation to communicative pressures. 1 1 The origins of syntax Human language is unique among natural communication systems in having a compositional and recursive mapping between meanings (mental representations to be communicated) and forms (linear strings of, typically phonetic, gestures). It is also extremely unusual in the way it is learnt. Each generation acquires at least some of the meaning-f...
Citations
| 266 | On Nature and Language – Chomsky - 2002 |
| 130 | Natural language and natural selection – Pinker, Bloom - 1990 |
| 65 | Function, Selection and Innateness: the Emergence of Language Universals – Kirby - 1999 |
| 55 | Computational simulations of the emergence of grammar – Batali - 1998 |
| 48 | Learning, culture and evolution in the origin of linguistic constraints – Kirby, Hurford - 1997 |
| 46 | Learning, bottlenecks and the evolution of recursive syntax – Kirby - 2002 |
| 25 | Social transmission favours linguistic generalization, in – Hurford - 2000 |
| 16 | Language as a complex adaptive system: co-evolution of language and of the language acquisition device – Briscoe - 1998 |
| 5 | Rethinking the language bottleneck: Why don't animals learn to communicate – Oliphant - 1998 |
| 2 | Populations of learners: the case of Portugese. Unpublished manuscript – NIYOGI - 1997 |
