Natural Language From Artificial Life

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Computational Simulation ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Explanatory Theory ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Systems Learning ◽  
Theory Of Language

This article aims to show that linguistics, in particular the study of the lexico-syntactic aspects of language, provides fertile ground for artificial life modeling. A survey of the models that have been developed over the last decade and a half is presented to demonstrate that ALife techniques have a lot to offer an explanatory theory of language. It is argued that this is because much of the structure of language is determined by the interaction of three complex adaptive systems: learning, culture, and biological evolution. Computational simulation, informed by theoretical linguistics, is an appropriate response to the challenge of explaining real linguistic data in terms of the processes that underpin human language.

COMPLEX SYSTEMS IN LANGUAGE EVOLUTION: THE CULTURAL EMERGENCE OF COMPOSITIONAL STRUCTURE

2003 ◽  
Vol 06 (04) ◽  
pp. 537-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
KENNY SMITH ◽  
HENRY BRIGHTON ◽  
SIMON KIRBY
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Compositional Structure ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Iterated Learning

Language arises from the interaction of three complex adaptive systems — biological evolution, learning, and culture. We focus here on cultural evolution, and present an Iterated Learning Model of the emergence of compositionality, a fundamental structural property of language. Our main result is to show that the poverty of the stimulus available to language learners leads to a pressure for linguistic structure. When there is a bottleneck on cultural transmission, only a language which is generalizable from sparse input data is stable. Language itself evolves on a cultural time-scale, and compositionality is language's adaptation to stimulus poverty.

scholarly journals Picture This: The State of the Art in Visualization for Complex Adaptive Systems

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Bullock ◽  
Tom Smith ◽  
Jon Bird
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
High Level ◽  
Visualization Techniques

Visualization has an increasingly important role to play in scientific research. Moreover, visualization has a special role to play within artificial life as a result of the informal status of its key explananda: life and complexity. Both are poorly defined but apparently identifiable via raw inspection. Here we concentrate on how visualization techniques might allow us to move beyond this situation by facilitating increased understanding of the relationships between an ALife system's (low-level) composition and organization and its (high-level) behavior. We briefly review the use of visualization within artificial life, and point to some future developments represented by the articles collected within this special issue.

A Simulation of Strategic Bargainings within a Biotechnology Cluster

2007 ◽  
pp. 335-351
Author(s):  
A. Berro ◽  
I. leroux
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Simulation Model ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Local Coordination ◽  
Key Players ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
End Use

This chapter introduces artificial life as a means of exploring strategic relations dynamics between firms and local authorities within a local biotechnology cluster. It argues that artificial life, combined with a conception of bioclusters as complex adaptive systems, offers a significant approach to understanding the co-evolution of strategies and the potential vulnerability of such systems. The simulation model involves firms and local government administrations that negotiate to share a quasi-rent, and which, to this end, use strategies that are to a greater or lesser extent sophisticated or opportunistic. The results show that the firms adjust their bargaining strategies according to their assessment of gains which might be collectively generated. The results also bring to light that the local authorities play a regulatory role against opportunism and that they are the key players in local coordination. Stemming from these simulations, the authors develop promising new avenues of theoretical and empirical research.

Artificial Life Down Under

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-399
Author(s):  
Hussein A. Abbass
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Complex Adaptive

For many years, Australian researchers have been contributing to the areas of artificial life and complex adaptive systems. This report highlights some of the Australian-based activities in these areas.

scholarly journals Constructing a consensus on language evolution? Convergences and differences between biolinguistic and usage-based approaches

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pleyer ◽  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Evo Devo

Two of the main theoretical approaches to the evolution of language are biolinguistics and usage-based approaches. Both are often conceptualized as belonging to seemingly irreconcilable ‘camps.’ Biolinguistic approaches assume that the ability to acquire language is based on a language-specific genetic foundation. Usage-based approaches, on the other hand, stress the importance of domain-general cognitive capacities, social cognition, and interaction. However, there have been a number of recent developments in both paradigms which suggest that biolinguistic and usage-based approaches are actually moving closing together. For example, theoretical advancements such as evo-devo and complex adaptive systems theory have gained traction in the language sciences, leading to changed conceptions of issues like the relative influence of “nature” and “nurture.” In this paper, we outline points of convergence between current minimalist biolinguistic and usage-based approaches regarding four contentious issues: a) modularity and domain-specificity, b) innateness and development, c) cultural and biological evolution, d) knowledge of language and its description. We show that across both paradigms, researchers have come to increasingly embrace more complex views of these issues. They also have come to appreciate the view that biological and cultural evolution are closely intertwined, which leads to an increased amount of common ground between minimalist biolinguistics and usage-based approaches.

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