LANGUAGE DYNAMICS IN STRUCTURED FORM AND MEANING SPACES

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 1150021 ◽  
Author(s):  
BART DE BOER ◽  
TESSA VERHOEF
Keyword(s):  
Complex Form ◽  
Combinatorial Structure ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Functional Constraints ◽  
Cognitive Constraints ◽  
Learning Experiment ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Previous Generation ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Iterated Learning

This paper reviews how the structure of form and meaning spaces influences the nature and the dynamics of the form-meaning mappings in language. In general, in a structured form or meaning space, not all forms and meanings are equivalent: some forms and some meanings are more easily confused with each other than with other forms or meanings. We first give a formalization of this idea, and explore how it influences robust form-meaning mappings. It is shown that some fundamental properties of human language, such as discreteness and combinatorial structure as well as universals of sound systems of human languages follow from optimal communication in structured form and meaning spaces. We also argue that some properties of human language follow less from these fundamental issues, and more from cognitive constraints. We then show that it is possible to experimentally investigate the relative contribution of functional constraints and of cognitive constraints. We illustrate this with an example of one of our own experiments, in which experimental participants have to learn a set of complex form-meaning mappings that have been produced by a previous generation of participants. Theoretically predicted properties appear in the sets of signals that emerge in this iterated learning experiment.

scholarly journals The emergence of duality of patterning through iterated learning: Precursors to phonology in a visual lexicon

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Design Feature ◽  
Combinatorial Structure ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Lexical Structure ◽  
Small Stock ◽  
Iterated Learning ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Duality Of Patterning ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Infinite Set

AbstractDuality of Patterning, one of Hockett's (1960) proposed design features unique to human language, refers in part to the arrangements of a relatively small stock of distinguishable meaningless sounds which are combined to create a potentially infinite set of morphemes. Literature regarding the emergence of this design feature is less abundant than that exploring other levels of structure as focus is more often given to the emergence of syntax. In an effort to explore where combinatorial structure of meaningless elements arises the results of two pilot experiments are presented within which we observe human participants modifying a small lexicon of visual symbols through a process of iterated learning. As this lexicon evolves there is evidence that it becomes simpler and more learnable, more easily transmitted. I argue that these features are a consequence of spontaneous emergence of combinatorial, sub-lexical structure in the lexicon, that the pattern of emergence is more complex than the most widely espoused explanation suggests, and I propose ways in which future work can build on what we learn from these pilot experiments to confirm this hypothesis.

scholarly journals The origins of duality of patterning in artificial whistled languages

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa Verhoef
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Combinatorial Structure ◽  
Basic Design ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Design Features ◽  
Finite Set ◽  
Iterated Learning ◽  
Duality Of Patterning

AbstractIn human speech, a finite set of basic sounds is combined into a (potentially) unlimited set of well-formed morphemes. Hockett (1960) placed this phenomenon under the term ‘duality of patterning’ and included it as one of the basic design features of human language. Of the thirteen basic design features Hockett proposed, duality of patterning is the least studied and it is still unclear how it evolved in language. Recent work shedding light on this is summarized in this paper and experimental data is presented. This data shows that combinatorial structure can emerge in an artificial whistled language through cultural transmission as an adaptation to human cognitive biases and learning. In this work the method of experimental iterated learning (Kirby et al. 2008) is used, in which a participant is trained on the reproductions of the utterances the previous participant learned. Participants learn and recall a system of sounds that are produced with a slide whistle. Transmission from participant to participant causes the whistle systems to change and become more learnable and more structured. These findings follow from qualitative observations, quantitative measures and a follow-up experiment that tests how well participants can learn the emerged whistled languages by generalizing from a few examples.

scholarly journals Iconicity and Structure in the Emergence of Combinatoriality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Hofer ◽  
Roger Philip Levy
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Virtual Slide ◽  
Design Feature ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Combinatorial Structure ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Finite Set ◽  
Iterated Learning ◽  
Combinatorial System

One design feature of human language is its combinatorial phonology, allowing it to form an unbounded set of meaningful utterances from a finite set of building blocks. Recent experiments suggest how this feature can evolve culturally when continuous signals are repeatedly transmitted between generations. Because the building blocks of a combinatorial system lack independent meaning, combinatorial structure appears to be in conflict with iconicity, another property salient in language evolution. To investigate the developmental trajectory of iconicity during the evolution of combinatoriality, we conducted an iterated learning experiment where participants learned auditory signals produced using a virtual slide whistle. We find that iconicity emerges rapidly but is gradually lost over generations as combinatorial structure continues to increase. This suggests that iconicity biases, whose presence was revealed in a signal guessing experiment, manifest in nuanced ways. We discuss implications of these findings for different ideas about how biases for iconicity and combinatoriality interact in language evolution.

scholarly journals How (much) do flowers vary? Unbalanced disparity among flower functional modules and a mosaic pattern of morphospace occupation in the order Ericales

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1852) ◽  
pp. 20170066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Chartier ◽  
Stefan Löfstrand ◽  
Maria von Balthazar ◽  
Sylvain Gerber ◽  
Florian Jabbour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Floral Traits ◽  
Functional Modules ◽  
Functional Constraints ◽  
Mosaic Pattern ◽  
Quantitative Distribution ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
Functional Patterns ◽  
Quantitative Analyses

The staggering diversity of angiosperms and their flowers has fascinated scientists for centuries. However, the quantitative distribution of floral morphological diversity (disparity) among lineages and the relative contribution of functional modules (perianth, androecium and gynoecium) to total floral disparity have rarely been addressed. Focusing on a major angiosperm order (Ericales), we compiled a dataset of 37 floral traits scored for 381 extant species and nine fossils. We conducted morphospace analyses to explore phylogenetic, temporal and functional patterns of disparity. We found that the floral morphospace is organized as a continuous cloud in which most clades occupy distinct regions in a mosaic pattern, that disparity increases with clade size rather than age, and that fossils fall in a narrow portion of the space. Surprisingly, our study also revealed that among functional modules, it is the androecium that contributes most to total floral disparity in Ericales. We discuss our findings in the light of clade history, selective regimes as well as developmental and functional constraints acting on the evolution of the flower and thereby demonstrate that quantitative analyses such as the ones used here are a powerful tool to gain novel insights into the evolution and diversity of flowers.

scholarly journals Motor constraints influence cultural evolution of rhythm

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1937) ◽  
pp. 20202001
Author(s):  
Helena Miton ◽  
Thomas Wolf ◽  
Cordula Vesper ◽  
Günther Knoblich ◽  
Dan Sperber
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Investigation ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Learning Experiment ◽  
Cultural Productions ◽  
Transmission Chain ◽  
Iterated Learning ◽  
The Way

While widely acknowledged in the cultural evolution literature, ecological factors—aspects of the physical environment that affect the way in which cultural productions evolve—have not been investigated experimentally. Here, we present an experimental investigation of this type of factor by using a transmission chain (iterated learning) experiment. We predicted that differences in the distance between identical tools (drums) and in the order in which they are to be used would cause the evolution of different rhythms. The evidence confirms our predictions and thus provides a proof of concept that ecological factors—here a motor constraint—can influence cultural productions and that their effects can be experimentally isolated and measured. One noteworthy finding is that ecological factors can on their own lead to more complex rhythms.

Solvent Effects on the Phosphorescent State of Some Aromatic Carbonyls

1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (22) ◽  
pp. 3601-3606 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B. Gallivan
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Atom ◽  
Solvent Polarity ◽  
Triplet States ◽  
Absorption Bands ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Alkyl Derivatives ◽  
Solvent Environment ◽  
Derivatives Of ◽  
Phosphorescent State

Triplet state properties of chromone, 4-chromanone, acetophenone, and several alkyl derivatives of acetophenone were studied in a variety of solvent systems. The phosphorescence excitation method was used to monitor the energies and relative intensities of singlet–triplet absorption bands in the presence and absence of heavy atom solvents. The results, combined with earlier optical and magnetic resonance studies of such systems, illustrate the importance of solvent environment in determining fundamental properties of these excited states. Observed trends are interpreted in terms of contrasting effects of changing solvent polarity on proximate n,π* and π.π* triplet states. To describe the relative contribution of each orbital type to the phosphorescent state, the coefficients of each wavefunction must change with solvent. Correspondingly, the solvent environment should be specified whenever orbital designations are made.

scholarly journals Amount of Learning and Signal Stability Modulate Emergence of Combinatorial Structure and Iconicity in Novel Signaling Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Kempe ◽  
Nikolay Panayotov ◽  
Nicolas Gauvrit ◽  
Sheila J Cunningham ◽  
Monica Tamariz
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Combinatorial Structure ◽  
Signal Space ◽  
Signaling Systems ◽  
Signal Stability ◽  
Compositional Structure ◽  
Signal Characteristics ◽  
Iterated Learning

Iterated language learning experiments that explore emergence of linguistic structure in the laboratory vary considerably in methodological implementation, limiting generalizability of findings. Most studies also restrict themselves to exploring the emergence of combinatorial and compositional structure in isolation. Here, we use a novel signal space comprising binary auditory and visual sequences and manipulate amount of learning and temporal stability of these signals. Participants had to learn signals for meanings differing in size, shape and brightness; their productions in the test phase were transmitted to the next participant. Across transmission chains of 10 generations each, Experiment 1 varied how much learning of auditory signals took place, and Experiment 2 varied temporal stability of visual signals. We found that combinatorial structure emerged most reliably with greater amount of learning and when signals were temporally stable. Iconicity emerged with reduced amount of learning, as opportunity for rote-memorization appeared to hamper exploration of the iconic affordances of the signal space. However, emergence of combinatoriality and iconicity in these entirely unfamiliar signaling systems was too fragile to allow for compositional signal-meaning mappings to emerge, so learnability did not improve over the course of transmission. These findings underscore the importance of systematically manipulating training conditions and signal characteristics in iterated learning language learning experiments and suggest that combinatorial structure and iconicity may be a prerequisite for emergence of compositional structure in novel signaling systems.

The Nature of Words in Human Protolanguages: It's Not a Holophrastic-Atomic Meanings Dichotomy

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Dowman
Keyword(s):  
Learning Model ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Iterated Learning

There is an ongoing debate as to whether the words in early presyntactic forms of human language had simple atomic meanings like modern words, or whether they were holophrastic. Simulations were conducted using an iterated learning model in which the agents were able to associate words with meanings, but in which they were not able to use syntactic rules to combine words into phrases or sentences. In some of these simulations words emerged that had neither holophrastic nor atomic meanings, demonstrating the possibility of protolanguages intermediate between these two extremes. Further simulations show how increases in cognitive or articulatory capacity would have produced changes in the type of words that was dominant in protolanguages. It is likely that at some point in time humans spoke a protolanguage in which most words had neither holophrastic nor atomic meanings.

scholarly journals The cognitive prerequisites for language: insights from iterated learning

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenny Smith
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Experimental Models ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Communicative Interaction ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Compositional Structure ◽  
Iterated Learning ◽  
Structured Meaning

Human languages are transmitted by iterated learning: we learn the language of our community by observing language use in communicative interaction, and then in turn we produce linguistic behaviours which become the basis for learning in others. Computational and experimental models of iterated learning show that linguistic structure (including compositional structure, which underpins the open-ended expressivity of human language) evolves on a cultural timescale as a result of this iterated learning process. I consider the implications of this work for our understanding of the cognitive capacities required to support linguistic structure, highlighting the importance of the capacities to acquire compositionally-structured meaning-signal mappings from data, and to reason about the minds of others during learning and use.

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