Language Evolution and Robotics

2007 ◽  
pp. 176-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Symbol Grounding ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Evolutionary Linguistics ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Symbol Grounding Problem ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Multiple Robot ◽  
And Robotics

This chapter focuses on recent studies on the origins and evolution of language which have used multiple robot systems as their primary platform. After presenting some theoretical background regarding language evolution and the symbol grounding problem, the chapter discusses a number of themes within the evolutionary linguistics that have been subject of robotic studies this far. These themes include categorisation, the formation of vocabularies, the evolution of grammar and the emergence of meaningful communication. Following this review, future avenues for research are discussed. The objective of the chapter is to present why robotics is a fruitful approach to study language origins and evolution, identify the main topics, report the major achievements and problems and provide a roadmap to future studies. The chapter concludes that robotics is, indeed, a very promising methodology to study language evolution and that, although many insights have been gained, we are still closer to the starting point than to the endpoint.

scholarly journals Evolutionary Linguistics: A New Look at an Old Landscape

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc D. Hauser ◽  
David Barner ◽  
Tim O’Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Developmental Studies ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Chomsky Hierarchy ◽  
Evolutionary Linguistics ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Child Language Acquisition

This article explores the evolution of language, focusing on insightsderived from observations and experiments in animals, guided by currenttheoretical problems that were inspired by the generative theory ofgrammar, and carried forward in substantial ways to the present bypsycholinguists working on child language acquisition. We suggest that overthe past few years, there has been a shift with respect to empiricalstudies of animals targeting questions of language evolution. Inparticular, rather than focus exclusively on the ways in which animalscommunicate, either naturally or by means of artificially acquired symbolsystems, more recent work has focused on the underlying computationalmechanisms subserving the language faculty and the ability of nonhumananimals to acquire these in some form. This shift in emphasis has broughtbiologists studying animals in closer contact with linguists studying theformal aspects of language, and has opened the door to a new line ofempirical inquiry that we label evolingo. Here we review some of theexciting new findings in the evolingo area, focusing in particular onaspects of semantics and syntax.With respect to semantics, we suggest thatsome of the apparently distinctive and uniquely linguistic conceptualdistinctions may have their origins in nonlinguistic conceptualrepresentations; as one example, we present data on nonhuman primates andtheir capacity to represent a singular–plural distinction in the absence oflanguage. With respect to syntax, we focus on both statistical andrule-based problems, especially the most recent attempts to exploredifferent layers within the Chomsky hierarchy; here, we discuss work ontamarins and starlings, highlighting differences in the patterns of resultsas well as differences in methodology that speak to potential issues oflearnability. We conclude by highlighting some of the exciting questionsthat lie ahead, as well as some of the methodological challenges that faceboth comparative and developmental studies of language evolution.

Social symbol grounding and language evolution

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Vogt ◽  
Federico Divina
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Communication System ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Symbol Grounding ◽  
Complex Environment ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Symbol Grounding Problem ◽  
Grounding Problem ◽  
Large Populations

This paper illustrates how external (or social) symbol grounding can be studied in simulations with large populations. We discuss how we can simulate language evolution in a relatively complex environment which has been developed in the context of the New Ties project. This project has the objective of evolving a cultural society and, in doing so, the agents have to evolve a communication system that is grounded in their interactions with their virtual environment and with other individuals. A preliminary experiment is presented in which we investigate the effect of a number of learning mechanisms. The results show that the social symbol grounding problem is a particularly hard one; however, we provide an ideal platform to study this problem.

scholarly journals Multi AGV Coordination Tolerant to Communication Failures

Robotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Diogo Matos ◽  
Pedro Costa ◽  
José Lima ◽  
Paulo Costa
Keyword(s):  
Communication Network ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Development Environment ◽  
Supervision System ◽  
Movement Dynamics ◽  
Robot Systems ◽  
Temporal Estimation ◽  
Temporal Efficiency ◽  
Multiple Robot ◽  
Multi Robot

Most path planning algorithms used presently in multi-robot systems are based on offline planning. The Timed Enhanced A* (TEA*) algorithm gives the possibility of planning in real time, rather than planning in advance, by using a temporal estimation of the robot’s positions at any given time. In this article, the implementation of a control system for multi-robot applications that operate in environments where communication faults can occur and where entire sections of the environment may not have any connection to the communication network will be presented. This system uses the TEA* to plan multiple robot paths and a supervision system to control communications. The supervision system supervises the communication with the robots and checks whether the robot’s movements are synchronized. The implemented system allowed the creation and execution of paths for the robots that were both safe and kept the temporal efficiency of the TEA* algorithm. Using the Simtwo2020 simulation software, capable of simulating movement dynamics and the Lazarus development environment, it was possible to simulate the execution of several different missions by the implemented system and analyze their results.

scholarly journals Human language evolution: a view from theoretical linguistics on how syntax and the lexicon first came into being

Primates ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruka Fujita ◽  
Koji Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Motor Action ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Gradual Evolution ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Evolutionary Continuity

AbstractHuman language is a multi-componential function comprising several sub-functions each of which may have evolved in other species independently of language. Among them, two sub-functions, or modules, have been claimed to be truly unique to the humans, namely hierarchical syntax (known as “Merge” in linguistics) and the “lexicon.” This kind of species-specificity stands as a hindrance to our natural understanding of human language evolution. Here we challenge this issue and advance our hypotheses on how human syntax and lexicon may have evolved from pre-existing cognitive capacities in our ancestors and other species including but not limited to nonhuman primates. Specifically, we argue that Merge evolved from motor action planning, and that the human lexicon with the distinction between lexical and functional categories evolved from its predecessors found in animal cognition through a process we call “disintegration.” We build our arguments on recent developments in generative grammar but crucially depart from some of its core ideas by borrowing insights from other relevant disciplines. Most importantly, we maintain that every sub-function of human language keeps evolutionary continuity with other species’ cognitive capacities and reject a saltational emergence of language in favor of its gradual evolution. By doing so, we aim to offer a firm theoretical background on which a promising scenario of language evolution can be constructed.

Effects of Compression on Language Evolution

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy K. Teal ◽  
Charles E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Minimum Description Length ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Problem Space ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Look Up Table ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract For many adaptive complex systems information about the environment is not simply recorded in a look-up table, but is rather encoded in a theory, schema, or model, which compresses information. The grammar of a language can be viewed as such a schema or theory. In a prior study [Teal et al., 1999] we proposed several conjectures about the learning and evolution of language that should follow from these observations: (C1) compression aids in generalization; (C2) compression occurs more easily in a “smooth”, as opposed to a “rugged”, problem space; and (C3) constraints from compression make it likely that natural languages evolve towards smooth string spaces. This previous work found general, if not complete support for these three conjectures. Here we build on that study to clarify the relationship between Minimum Description Length (MDL) and error in our model and examine evolution of certain languages in more detail. Our results suggest a fourth conjecture: that all else being equal, (C4) more complex languages change more rapidly during evolution.

scholarly journals The Social Evolution of Language, and the Language of Social Evolution

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 147470490700500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Scott-Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Reciprocal Altruism ◽  
Honest Signaling ◽  
Evolution Theory ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Capacity ◽  
Correct Application

Recent years have witnessed an increased interest in the evolution of the human capacity for language. Such a project is necessarily interdisciplinary. However, that interdisciplinarity brings with it a risk: terms with a technical meaning in their own field are used wrongly or too loosely by those from other backgrounds. Unfortunately, this risk has been realized in the case of language evolution, where many of the terms of social evolution theory (reciprocal altruism, honest signaling, etc.) are incorrectly used in a way that suggests that certain key fundamentals have been misunderstood. In particular the distinction between proximate and ultimate explanations is often lost, with the result that several claims made by those interested in language evolution are epistemically incoherent. However, the correct application of social evolution theory provides simple, clear explanations of why language most likely evolved and how the signals used in language — words — remain cheap yet arbitrary.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document