%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % License % % % % The "document" referred to herein is the collection of bibtex citations presented % % in this collection. Specifically, this license covers ONLY this collection of % % bibtex citations. Referenced items themselves (the actual articles, books, etc.) % % may have their own licenses and copyrights, and are not covered by this license. % % % % Copyright (c) 2001-2008 by Jun Wang and Les Gasser. Permission is granted to % % copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU % % Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by % % the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover % % Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. % % % % A copy of the license can be found here: "http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html" % % GNU Free Documentation License. % % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% @article{abrams03languageDeath, author={Daniel M. Abrams and Steven H. Strogatz}, title={Modelling the dynamics of language death}, journal={Nature}, year={2003}, month={August}, volume={424}, pages={900}, doi={10.1038/424900a}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/abrams03languageDeath.html} } @inproceedings{ackley94altruismIn, author={D. H. Ackley and M. L. Littman}, title={Altruism in the evolution of communication}, year={1994}, pages={40-48}, address={Cambridge, MA}, editor={R. Brooks and P. Maes}, publisher={MIT Press}, booktitle={Artificial Life IV}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/ackley94altruismIn.html}, abstract={Computer models of evolutionary phenomena often assume that the fitness of an individual can be evaluated in isolation, but effective communication requires that individuals interact. Existing models directly reward speakers for improved behavior on the part of the listeners so that, essentially, effective communication is fitness. We present new models in which, even though 'speaking truthfully' provides no tangible benefit to the speaker, effective communication nonetheless evolves. A large population is spatially distributed so that 'communication range' approximately correlates with 'breeding range,' so that most of the time 'you'll be talking to family,' allowing kin selection to encourage the emergence of communication. However, the emergence of altruistic communication also creates niches that can be exploited by 'information parasites.' The new models display complex and subtle long-term dynamics as the global implications of such social dilemmas are played out.} } @incollection{aerts05quantumEvolution, author={Diederik Aerts and Marek Czachor and Bart D'Hooghe}, title={Towards a quantum evolutionary scheme: violating Bell's inequalities in language}, year={2006}, editor={Gontier, Nathalie and van Bendegem, Jean Paul and Aerts, Diederik}, publisher={Dordrecht: Springer}, booktitle={Evolutionary Epistemology, Language and Culture - A non-adaptationist, systems theoretical approach}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/aerts05quantumEvolution.html}, keywords={quantum, evolution, language, Bell's inequalities, context}, abstract={We show the presence of genuine quantum structures in human language. The neo-Darwinian evolutionary scheme is founded on a probability structure that satisfies the Kolmogorovian axioms, and as a consequence cannot incorporate quantum-like evolutionary change. In earlier research we revealed quantum structures in processes taking place in conceptual space. We argue that the presence of quantum structures in language and the earlier detected quantum structures in conceptual change make the neo-Darwinian evolutionary scheme strictly too limited for Evolutionary Epistemology. We sketch how we believe that evolution in a more general way should be implemented in epistemology and conceptual change, but also in biology, and how this view would lead to another relation between both biology and epistemology.} } @inproceedings{agostini03advertisingGames, author={Alessandro Agostini and Paolo Avesani}, title={Advertising Games for Web Services}, year={2003}, pages={93-109}, booktitle={Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Cooperative Information Systems (CoopIS-03)}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/agostini03advertisingGames.html}, keywords={Web information systems and services; semantic interoperability; negotiation protocols; peer-to-peer cooperation}, abstract={We advance and discuss a framework suitable to study theoretical implications and practical impact of language evolution and lexicon sharing in an open distributed multi-agent system. In our approach, the assumption of autonomy plays a key role to preserve the opportunity for the agents of local encoding of meanings. We consider the application scenario of Web services, where we conceive the problem of advertisement as a matter of sharing a denotational language. We provide a precise formulation of the agentsrsquo behavior within a game-theoretical setting. As an important consequence of our ``advertising games,'' we interpret the problem of knowledge interoperability and management in the light of evolutionary dynamics and learning in games. Our methodology is inspired by work in natural language semantics and ``language games.''} } @article{ahlswede05NowakInformationTheoryModel, author={Rudolf Ahlswede and Erdal Arikan and Lars Baumer and Christian Deppe}, title={Information theoretic models in language evolution}, journal={Electronic Notes in Discrete Mathematics}, year={2005}, month={August}, volume={21}, pages={97-100}, doi={10.1016/j.endm.2005.07.002}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/ahlswede05NowakInformationTheoryModel.html}, abstract={We study a model for language evolution which was introduced by Nowak and Krakauer ([M.A. Nowak and D.C. Krakauer, The evolution of language, PNAS 96 (14) (1999) 8028-8033]). We analyze discrete distance spaces and prove a conjecture of Nowak for all metrics with a positive semidefinite associated matrix. This natural class of metrics includes all metrics studied by different authors in this connection. In particular it includes all ultra-metric spaces. Furthermore, the role of feedback is explored and multi-user scenarios are studied. In all models we give lower and upper bounds for the fitness.} } @book{aitchison00theSeeds, author={Jean Aitchison}, title={The Seeds of Speech: Language Origin and Evolution}, year={2000}, month={August}, publisher={Cambridge Univ Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/aitchison00theSeeds.html} } @incollection{aitchison98onDiscontinuing, author={J. Aitchison}, title={On discontinuing the continuity-discontinuity debate}, year={1998}, address={Cambridge}, editor={Hurford, J. R. and Studdert-Kennedy, M. and Knight C.}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/aitchison98onDiscontinuing.html} } @inproceedings{akaishi03misperception, author={Jin Akaishi and Takaya Arita}, title={Misperception, Communication and Diversity}, year={2003}, publisher={MIT Press}, booktitle={Artificial Life VIII}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/akaishi03misperception.html}, abstract={It is commonly agreed upon that misperception is detrimental. However, misperception might have a beneficial effect from a collective viewpoint when individuals mispercept incoming information that promotes a specific kind of behavior, which leads to an increase in diversity. First, this paper proposes our hypothesis regarding adaptive property of misperception based on the argument of the relationship between misperception and behavioral diversity, and the effects of communication on diversity. Then, a simple computational model is constructed for a resource-searching problem by using the multi-agent modeling method. We investigate both direct misperception, that are caused when obtaining information directly from surrounding environment, and indirect misperception, that are caused when obtaining information indirectly through communication by conducting simulation experiments. The experimental results have shown that misperception could increase diversity in behavior of agents, thus could be adaptive, while accurate communication could decrease a diversity of agent behavior, which might decrease fitness. This paper also discusses a correlative relationship between direct misperception and indirect misperception. We believe that the study on adaptive property of misperception based on an innovative frame of reference and a powerful methodology in the field of complex system or artificial life would shed light on fundamental issues in cognitive science, memetics and engineering.} } @incollection{allen99theEmergence, author={J. Allen and M. S. Seidenberg}, title={The Emergence of Grammaticality in Connectionist Networks}, year={1999}, address={Hillsdale, NJ}, editor={B. MacWhinney}, publisher={Lawrence Earlbaum Associates}, booktitle={Emergence of Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/allen99theEmergence.html} } @inproceedings{allen05learningToCommunicate, author={Martin Allen and Claudia V. Goldman and Shlomo Zilberstein}, title={Learning to Communicate in Decentralized Systems}, year={2005}, pages={1--8}, address={Pittsburgh, PA}, booktitle={Proceedings of the Workshop on Multiagent Learning, AAAI-05}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/allen05learningToCommunicate.html}, abstract={Learning to communicate is an emerging challenge in AI research. It is known that agents interacting in decentralized, stochastic environments can benefit from exchanging information. Multiagent planning generally assumes that agents share a common means of communication; however, in building robust distributed systems it is important to address potential mis-coordination resulting from misinterpretation of messages exchanged. This paper lays foundations for studying this problem, examining its properties analytically and empirically in a decision-theoretic context. Solving the problem optimally is often intractable, but our approach enables agents using different languages to converge upon coordination over time.} } @inproceedings{allexandre98emergenceOf, author={C. Allexandre and A. Popescu-Belis}, title={Emergence of Grammatical Conventions in an Agent Population Using a Simplified Tree Adjoining Grammar}, year={1998}, pages={383-384}, address={Paris}, booktitle={ICMAS98}, note={poster}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/allexandre98emergenceOf.html} } @book{allott01theNatural, author={Robin Allott}, title={The Natural Origin of Language}, year={2001}, publisher={}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/allott01theNatural.html} } @book{allott87motorTheory, author={Robin Allott}, title={The Motor Theory of Language Origin}, year={1987}, publisher={Lewes: Book Guild}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/allott87motorTheory.html}, abstract={The motor theory is not only a theory of language origin and development but also a theory of current language function. Language is constructed on the basis of a previously existing complex system, the neural motor system. The motor system has been built up from a limited number of primitive elements - units of motor action - which can be formed into more extended motor programs. The programs and procedures which evolved for the construction and execution of simple and sequential motor movements formed the basis of the programs and procedures going to form language. The development of the language capacity has resulted from the progressive establishment of new cross-modal or transfunctional neural linkages, cerebral reorganization in the sense that the interconnectedness of different brain regions concerned with what are usually considered distinct functions, has substantially increased. This extensive relation between language and the motor system is what one might reasonably expect, given the central role of the motor system in all behaviour and the essentially motor character of speech production, as the outcome of movements of the articulatory apparatus. The motor system is seen as the indispensable mediator between different modalities, and particularly between language and perception.} } @article{ambrose01science, author={Stanley H. Ambrose}, title={Paleolithic Technology and Human Evolution}, journal={Science}, year={2001}, volume={291}, number={5509}, pages={1748-1753}, doi={10.1126/science.1059487}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/ambrose01science.html}, abstract={Human biological and cultural evolution are closely linked to technological innovations. Direct evidence for tool manufacture and use is absent before 2.5 million years ago (Ma), so reconstructions of australopithecine technology are based mainly on the behavior and anatomy of chimpanzees. Stone tool technology, robust australopithecines, and the genus Homo appeared almost simultaneously 2.5 Ma. Once this adaptive threshold was crossed, technological evolution was accompanied by increased brain size, population size, and geographical range. Aspects of behavior, economy, mental capacities, neurological functions, the origin of grammatical language, and social and symbolic systems have been inferred from the archaeological record of Paleolithic technology.} } @article{rubinstein2000bookreview, author={Luca Anderlini and Leonardo Felli and Adam Morton and Philip Mirowski}, title={Book Reviews: Economics and Language. Five Essays. By Ariel Rubinstein. 2000.}, journal={Economica}, year={2004}, month={February}, volume={71}, number={281}, pages={169-173}, doi={10.1111/j.0013-0427.2004.363_2.x}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/rubinstein2000bookreview.html} } @incollection{andersen92complexityAnd, author={Elaine S. Andersen}, title={Complexity and Language Acquisition: Influences on the Development of Morphological Systems in Children}, year={1992}, address={Reading, MA}, editor={Hawkins, John A. and Murray Gell-Mann}, publisher={Addison-Wesley}, booktitle={The Evolution of Human Languages}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/andersen92complexityAnd.html} } @inproceedings{angeline94coevolvingHigh, author={Peter J. Angeline and Jordan B. Pollack}, title={Coevolving High-Level Representations}, year={1994}, pages={55-71}, address={Reading MA}, editor={C. Langton}, publisher={Addison-Wesley}, booktitle={Artificial Life III}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/angeline94coevolvingHigh.html} } @incollection{aoun92aBrief, author={Joseph Aoun}, title={A Brief Presentation of the Generative Enterprise}, year={1992}, address={Reading, MA}, editor={Hawkins, John A. and Murray Gell-Mann}, publisher={Addison-Wesley}, booktitle={The Evolution of Human Languages}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/aoun92aBrief.html} } @book{arbib06mirrorSystemEditedBook, title={Action to Language via the Mirror Neuron System}, year={2006}, editor={Michael A. Arbib}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib06mirrorSystemEditedBook.html} } @article{arbib06speechAsAction, author={M. A. Arbib}, title={A sentence is to speech as what is to action?}, journal={Cortex}, year={2006}, month={May}, volume={42}, number={4}, pages={507-14}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib06speechAsAction.html}, abstract={This article offers a conceptual framework for integrated analysis of subprocesses in action and language, based on goal-directed action. Anatomical substrates are discussed in the companion paper (Arbib and Bota, 2003) which approaches ``Integrative Models of Broca's Area and the Ventral Premotor Cortex'' within the context of explaining why the evolution of the human brain yielded mechanisms which support language in a multi-modal vocal-manual-facial system rather than privileging the vocal mode. Arbib and Bota (2003) examine homologies between different cortical areas in macaque and human to revisit the Mirror System Hypothesis (MSH) of Rizzolatti and Arbib (1998)--the notion that the mirror system for grasping (which has its frontal outpost in premotor area F5 of the macaque) provides the substrate for the evolution of the language-ready brain which supports parity of communication. They also offer a critique and extension based on the work of Aboitiz and Garcí(1997; Aboitiz et al., 2006). Arbib and Bota (2003) also discussed the utility of neuroinformatics in relating information across diverse cortical atlases and evaluating degrees of homology for brain regions of interest in different species (for discussion, see Deacon, 2004; Arbib and Bota, 2004).} } @incollection{arbib05mirrorSystem, author={Michael A. Arbib}, title={The Mirror System Hypothesis: How did protolanguage evolve?}, year={2005}, chapter={2}, editor={Maggie Tallerman}, publisher={Oxford University Press}, booktitle={Language Origins: Perspectives on Evolution}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib05mirrorSystem.html} } @article{arbib04BBS-monkeylikeAction, author={M. A. Arbib}, title={From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics}, journal={Behavioral and Brain Sciences}, year={2005}, month={April}, volume={28}, number={2}, pages={105-124}, note={discussion pages: 125-167}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib04BBSmonkeylikeAction.html}, keywords={gestures; hominids; language evolution; mirror system; neurolinguistics; primates; protolanguage; sign language; speech; vocalization}, abstract={The article analyzes the neural and functional grounding of language skills as well as their emergence in hominid evolution, hypothesizing stages leading from abilities known to exist in monkeys and apes and presumed to exist in our hominid ancestors right through to modern spoken and signed languages. The starting point is the observation that both premotor area F5 in monkeys and Broca's area in humans contain a 'mirror system' active for both execution and observation of manual actions, and that F5 and Broca’s area are homologous brain regions. This grounded the Mirror System Hypothesis of Rizzolatti & Arbib (1998) which offers the mirror system for grasping as a key neural 'missing link' between the abilities of our non-human ancestors of 20 million years ago and modern human language, with manual gestures rather than a system for vocal communication providing the initial seed for this evolutionary process. The present article, however, goes 'beyond the mirror' to offer hypotheses on evolutionary changes within and outside the mirror systems which may have occurred to equip Homo sapiens with a language-ready brain. Crucial to the early stages of this progression is the mirror system for grasping and its extension to permit imitation. Imitation is seen as evolving via a so-called 'simple' system such as that found in chimpanzees (which allows imitation of complex 'objectoriented' sequences but only as the result of extensive practice) to a so-called 'complex' system found in humans (which allows rapid imitation even of complex sequences, under appropriate conditions) which supports pantomime. This is hypothesized to provide the substrate for the development of protosign, a combinatorially open repertoire of manual gestures, which then provides the scaffolding for the emergence of protospeech (which thus owes little to non-human vocalizations), with protosign and protospeech then developing in an expanding spiral. It is argued that these stages involve biological evolution of both brain and body. By contrast, it is argued that the progression from protosign and protospeech to languages with full-blown syntax and compositional semantics was a historical phenomenon in the development of Homo sapiens, involving few if any further biological changes.} } @incollection{arbib04response, author={Michael A. Arbib}, title={How Far Is Language beyond Our Grasp? A Response to Hurford}, year={2004}, pages={315-322}, address={Cambridge, MA}, editor={D. Kimbrough Oller and Ulrike Griebel}, publisher={MIT Press}, booktitle={Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib04response.html} } @article{arbib03bookreview, author={Michael A. Arbib}, title={Review of ``Linguistic evolution through language acquisition: Formal and computational models'' by Ted Briscoe, 2002}, journal={Computational Linguistics}, year={2003}, volume={29}, number={3}, pages={503-506}, note={Special issue on web as corpus}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib03bookreview.html} } @incollection{arbib03theEvolving, author={M. A. Arbib}, title={The evolving mirror system: a neural basis for language readiness}, year={2003}, editor={M.H. Christiansen and S. Kirby}, publisher={Oxford University Press}, booktitle={Language Evolution: The States of the Art}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib03theEvolving.html} } @article{arbib03pt, author={Michael A. Arbib}, title={Rana computatrix to human language: towards a computational neuroethology of language evolution}, journal={Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences}, year={2003}, volume={361}, number={1811}, pages={2345--2379}, doi={10.1098/rsta.2003.1248}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib03pt.html}, abstract={Walter's Machina speculatrix inspired the name Rana computatrix for a family of models of visuomotor coordination in the frog, which contributed to the development of computational neuroethology. We offer here an 'evolutionary' perspective on models in the same tradition for rat, monkey and human. For rat, we show how the frog-like taxon affordance model provides a basis for the spatial navigation mechanisms that involve the hippocampus and other brain regions. For monkey, we recall two models of neural mechanisms for visuomotor coordination. The first, for saccades, shows how interactions between the parietal and frontal cortex augment superior colliculus seen as the homologue of frog tectum. The second, for grasping, continues the theme of parieto-frontal interactions, linking parietal affordances to motor schemas in premotor cortex. It further emphasizes the mirror system for grasping, in which neurons are active both when the monkey executes a specific grasp and when it observes a similar grasp executed by others. The model of humanbrain mechanisms is based on the mirror-system hypothesis of the evolution of the language-ready brain, which sees the human Broca's area as an evolved extension of the mirror system for grasping.} } @incollection{arbib01theMirror, author={M. A. Arbib}, title={The Mirror System, Imitation, and the Evolution of Language}, year={2002}, editor={Kerstin Dautenhahn and Chrystopher Nehaniv}, publisher={The MIT Press}, booktitle={Imitation in Animals and Artifacts}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib01theMirror.html}, keywords={imitation; evolution of language; parsing; communication; behavior; chimpanzees}, abstract={This chapter argues that the ability to imitate is a key innovation in the evolutionary path leading to language in the human and relates this hypothesis to specific data on brain mechanisms. In this context, imitation involves more than simply observing someone else's movement and responding with movement that in its entirety is already in one's own repertoire, imitation involves 'parsing' a complex movement. What marks humans as distinct from their common ancestors with chimpanzees is that whereas the chimpanzee can imitate short novel sequences through repeated exposure, humans can acquire (longer) novel sequences in a single trial if the sequences are not too long and the components are relatively familiar. This chapter will take us through seven hypothesized stages of evolution: (1) grasping; (2) a mirror system for grasping; (3) a simple imitation system for grasping; (4) a complex imitation system for grasping; (5) a manual-based communication system; (6) speech, which I here characterize as being the open-ended production and perception of sequences of vocal gestures, without implying that these sequences constitute a language; and (7) language.} } @incollection{arbib01groundingThe, author={Michael A. Arbib}, title={Grounding the Mirror System Hypothesis for the Evolution of the Language-Ready Brain}, year={2002}, pages={229-254}, address={London}, chapter={11}, editor={Angelo Cangelosi and Domenico Parisi}, publisher={Springer Verlag}, booktitle={Simulating the Evolution of Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib01groundingThe.html} } @incollection{arbib01coEvolution, author={M. A. Arbib}, title={Co-Evolution of Human Consciousness and Language}, year={2001}, volume={929}, pages={195-220}, editor={Pedro C. Marijuan}, publisher={}, booktitle={Cajal and Consciousness: Scientific Approaches to Consciousness on the Centennial of Ramon y Cajal's Textura. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib01coEvolution.html}, abstract={This article recalls Cajal's brief mention of consciousness in the Textura as a function of the human brain quite distinct from reflex action, and discusses the view that human consciousness may share aspects of 'animal awareness' with other species, but has its unique form because humans possess language. Three ingredients of a theory of the evolution of human consciousness are offered: the view that a prés of intended activity is necessarily formed in the brain of a human that communicates in a human way; the notion that such a prés constitutes consciousness; and a new theory of the evolution of human language based on the mirror system of monkeys and the role of communication by means of hand gestures as a stepping-stone to speech.} } @inproceedings{arbib06mirrorSystemHypothesis, author={Michael A. Arbib and James Bonaiuto and Edina Rosta}, title={The mirror system hypothesis: From a macaque-like mirror system to imitation}, year={2006}, pages={3-10}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Evolution of Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib06mirrorSystemHypothesis.html}, abstract={The Mirror System Hypothesis (MSH) of the evolution of brain mechanisms supporting language distinguishes a monkey-like mirror neuron system from a chimpanzee-like mirror system that supports simple imitation and a human-like mirror system that supports complex imitation and language. This paper briefly reviews the seven evolutionary stages posited by MSH and then focuses on the early stages which precede but are claimed to ground language. It introduces MNS2, a new model of action recognition learning by mirror neurons of the macaque brain to address data on audio-visual mirror neurons. In addition, the paper offers an explicit hypothesis on how to embed a macaque-like mirror system in a larger human-like circuit which has the capacity for imitation by both direct and indirect routes. Implications for the study of speech are briefly noted.} } @article{arbib03neunet, author={Michael A. Arbib and Mihail Bota}, title={Language evolution: neural homologies and neuroinformatics}, journal={Neural Networks}, year={2003}, volume={16}, number={9}, pages={1237-1260}, doi={10.1016/j.neunet.2003.08.002}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib03neunet.html}, keywords={Brain evolution; Broca's area;Cortical maps; Homologies; Neural; Language; Neural mechanisms; Mirror neurons; NeuroHomology Database; Neuroinformatics; Neurolinguistics; Wernicke's area}, abstract={This paper contributes to neurolinguistics by grounding an evolutionary account of the readiness of the human brain for language in the search for homologies between different cortical areas in macaque and human. We consider two hypotheses for this grounding, that of Aboitiz and Garcí[Brain Res. Rev. 25 (1997) 381] and the Mirror System Hypothesis of Rizzolatti and Arbib [Trends Neurosci. 21 (1998) 188] and note the promise of computational modeling of neural circuitry of the macaque and its linkage to analysis of human brain imaging data. In addition to the functional differences between the two hypotheses, problems arise because they are grounded in different cortical maps of the macaque brain. In order to address these divergences, we have developed several neuroinformatics tools included in an on-line knowledge management system, the NeuroHomology Database, which is equipped with inference engines both to relate and translate information across equivalent cortical maps and to evaluate degrees of homology for brain regions of interest in different species.} } @article{arbib05schizophrenia, author={Michael A. Arbib and T. Nathan Mundhenk}, title={Schizophrenia and the mirror system: an essay}, journal={Neuropsychologia}, year={2005}, volume={43}, number={2}, pages={268-280}, doi={10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.11.013}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib05schizophrenia.html}, keywords={FARS model; Grasping; Mirror system; Schizophrenia; Agency}, abstract={We analyze how data on the mirror system for grasping in macaque and human ground the mirror system hypothesis for the evolution of the language-ready human brain, and then focus on this putative relation between hand movements and speech to contribute to the understanding of how it may be that a schizophrenic patient generates an action (whether manual or verbal) but does not attribute the generation of that action to himself. We make a crucial discussion between self-monitoring and attribution of agency. We suggest that vebal hallucinations occur when an utterance progresses through verbal creation pathways and returns as a vocalization observed, only to be dismissed as external since no record of its being created has been kept. Schizophrenic patients on this theory then confabulate the agent.} } @article{arbib97neuralExpectations, author={M. A. Arbib and G. Rizzolatti}, title={Neural expectations: a possible evolutionary path from manual skills to language}, journal={Communication and Cognition}, year={1997}, volume={29}, pages={393-424}, note={Reprinted in Ph. Van Loocke (ed.) The nature, representation and evolution of concepts, London/New York: Routledge}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arbib97neuralExpectations.html} } @book{arita00artificialLife, author={Takaya Arita}, title={Artificial Life: A Constructive Approach to the Origin/Evolution of Life, Society, and Language}, year={2000}, publisher={}, note={Japanese edition copyright, The English edition is under preparations}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arita00artificialLife.html} } @inproceedings{arita98evolutionOf, author={T. Arita and Y. Koyama}, title={Evolution of Linguistic Diversity in a Simple Communication System}, year={1998}, pages={9-17}, address={Cambridge, MA}, editor={C. Adami and R. Belew and H. Kitano and C. Taylor}, publisher={MIT Press}, booktitle={Artificial Life VI}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arita98evolutionOf.html}, abstract={This paper reports on the current state of our efforts to shed light on the origin and evolution of linguistic diversity by using synthetic modeling and artificial life techniques. We construct a simple abstract model of a communication system that has been designed with regard to referential signaling in nonhuman animals. The evolutionary dynamics of vocabulary sharing is analyzed based on these experiments. The results show that mutation rates, population size, and resource restrictions define the classes of vocabulary sharing. We also see a dynamic equilibrium, where two states, a state with one dominant shared word and a state with several dominant shared words, take turns appearing. We incorporate the idea of the abstract model into a more concrete situation and present an agent-based model to verify the results of the abstract model and to examine the possibility of using linguistic diversity in the field of distributed AI and robotics. It has been shown that the evolution of linguistic diversity in vocabulary sharing will support cooperative behavior in a population of agents.} } @article{arita98linguisticDiversity, author={Takaya Arita and Yuhji Koyama}, title={Evolution of linguistic diversity in a simple communication system}, journal={Artificial Life}, year={1998}, month={Winter}, volume={4}, number={1}, pages={109-124}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arita98linguisticDiversity.html}, keywords={Evolution; Linguistic Diversity; Communication; Genetic Algorithms}, abstract={This article reports on the current state of our efforts to shed light on the origin and evolution of linguistic diversity using synthetic modeling and artificial life techniques. We construct a simple abstract model of a communication system that has been designed with regard to referential signaling in nonhuman animals. We analyze the evolutionary dynamics of vocabulary sharing based on these experiments. The results show that mutation rates, population size, and resource restrictions define the classes of vocabulary sharing. We also see a dynamic equilibrium, where two states, a state with one dominant shared word and a state with several dominant shared words, take turns appearing. We incorporate the idea of the abstract model into a more concrete situation and present an agent-based model to verify the results of the abstract model and to examine the possibility of using linguistic diversity in the field of distributed AI and robotics. It has been shown that the evolution of linguistic diversity in vocabulary sharing will support cooperative behavior in a population of agents.} } @inproceedings{arita96aSimple, author={Takaya Arita and C. E. Taylor}, title={A Simple Model for the Evolution of Communication}, year={1996}, pages={405-410}, editor={L.J. Fogel and P. J. Angeline, and T. Bäck}, publisher={MIT Press}, booktitle={The Fifth Annual Conference On Evolutionary Programming}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arita96aSimple.html}, abstract={This paper investigates the evolution of communication among autonomous robots in the real world. A simple model has been constructed as a first step, in which a population of artificial organisms inhabits a lattice plane. Each organism communicates information with neighbors by uttering words. A common language typically evolves. We have analyzed evolutionary dynamics in this system, and have begun to implement it with a population of small mobile robots.} } @inproceedings{arita95aPrimitive, author={T. Arita and Kawaguchi Unno}, title={A Primitive Model for Language Generation by Evolution and Learning}, year={1995}, pages={163-170}, booktitle={International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Evolutionary Systems}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arita95aPrimitive.html}, abstract={Natural language, communication or related mental phenomena must surely be a prominent candidate for an evolutionary explanation. This paper discusses a primitive model of language generation by evolution and learning among a population of artificial organisms whose brains are realized by a model of associative memory with a neural network structure. The goal of our study is to acquire general knowledge of the theory that relates the mechanisms to the evolutionary process such as language generation, and to develop the evolutionary systems which have facilities for still more intelligent information processing.} } @article{arnold06primateCalls, author={Kate Arnold and Klaus Zuberbuhler}, title={Semantic combinations in primate calls}, journal={Nature}, year={2006}, month={May}, volume={441}, pages={303}, doi={10.1038/441303a}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/arnold06primateCalls.html}, abstract={Syntax sets human language apart from other natural communication systems, although its evolutionary origins are obscure. Here we show that free-ranging putty-nosed monkeys combine two vocalizations into different call sequences that are linked to specific external events, such as the presence of a predator and the imminent movement of the group. Our findings indicate that non-human primates can combine calls into higher-order sequences that have a particular meaning.} } @incollection{aslin99statisticalLearning, author={R. N. Aslin and J. R. Saffran and E. L. Newport}, title={Statistical Learning in Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Domains.}, year={1999}, address={Hillsdale, NJ}, editor={B. MacWhinney}, publisher={Lawrence Earlbaum Associates}, booktitle={Emergence of Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/aslin99statisticalLearning.html} } @incollection{atkinson06phylogeneticMethods, author={Quentin D. Atkinson and Russell D. Gray}, title={How Old is the Indo-European Language Family? Illumination or More Moths to the Flame?}, year={2006}, pages={91-}, chapter={8}, editor={Peter Forster and Colin Renfrew}, publisher={}, booktitle={Phylogenetic Methods and the Prehistory of Languages}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/atkinson06phylogeneticMethods.html} } @article{atkinson08evolveBursts, author={Quentin D. Atkinson and Andrew Meade and Chris Venditti and Simon J. Greenhill and Mark Pagel}, title={Languages Evolve in Punctuational Bursts}, journal={Science}, year={2008}, month={February}, volume={319}, number={5863}, pages={588}, doi={10.1126/science.1149683}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/atkinson08evolveBursts.html}, abstract={Linguists speculate that human languages often evolve in rapid or punctuational bursts, sometimes associated with their emergence from other languages, but this phenomenon has never been demonstrated. We used vocabulary data from three of the world's major language groups -- Bantu, Indo-European, and Austronesian -- to show that 10 to 33\% of the overall vocabulary differences among these languages arose from rapid bursts of change associated with language-splitting events. Our findings identify a general tendency for increased rates of linguistic evolution in fledgling languages, perhaps arising from a linguistic founder effect or a desire to establish a distinct social identity.} } @inproceedings{aurnhammer06semanticsWWW, author={Melanie Aurnhammer and Peter Hanappe and Luc Steels}, title={Integrating Collaborative Tagging and Emergent Semantics for Image Retrieval}, year={2006}, month={May}, booktitle={Proceedings WWW2006, Collaborative Web Tagging Workshop}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/aurnhammer06semanticsWWW.html}, abstract={In this paper, we investigate the combination of collaborative tagging and emergent semantics for improved data navigation and search. We propose to use visual features in addition to tags provided by users in order to discover new relationships between data. We show that our method is able to overcome some of the problems involved in navigating databases using tags only, such as synonymy or different languages, spelling mistakes, homonymy, or missing tags. On the other hand, image search based on visual features can be simplified substantially by the use of tags. We present technical details of our prototype system and show some preliminary results.} } @unpublished{avdis00selfOrganisation, author={Efstathios Avdis}, title={Self-Organisation of Communicating Agents -- Linguistic Diversity in Populations of Autonomous Agents}, year={2000}, note={}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/avdis00selfOrganisation.html} } @inproceedings{avesani03P2Pgame, author={P. Avesani and A. Agostini}, title={A Peer-to-Peer Advertising Game}, year={2003}, pages={28-42}, publisher={Springer-Verlag LNCS 2910}, booktitle={Proceedings of the First International Conference on Service Oriented Computing}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/avesani03P2Pgame.html}, abstract={Advertising plays a key role in service oriented recommendation over a peer-to-peer network. The advertising problem can be considered as the problem of finding a common language to denote the peers' capabilities and needs. Up to now the current approaches to the problem of advertising revealed that the proposed solutions either affect the autonomy assumption or do not scale up the size of the network. We explain how an approach based on language games can be effective in dealing with the typical issue of advertising: do not require ex-ante agreement and to be responsive to the evolution of the network as an open system. In the paper we introduce the notion of advertising game, a specific language game designed to deal with the issue of supporting the emergence of a common denotation language over a network of peers. We provide the related computational model and an experimental evaluation. A positive empirical evidence is achieved by sketching a peer-to-peer recommendation service for bookmark exchanging using real data.} } @inproceedings{avesani05webAnnotations, author={Paolo Avesani and Marco Cova}, title={Shared lexicon for distributed annotations on the Web}, year={2005}, month={May}, pages={207-214}, address={Chiba, Japan}, booktitle={WWW2005}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/avesani05webAnnotations.html}, abstract={The interoperability among distributed and autonomous systems is the ultimate challenge facing the semantic web. Heterogeneity of data representation is the main source of problems. This paper proposes an innovative solution that combines lexical approaches and language games. The benefits for distributed annotation systems on the web are twofold: firstly, it will reduce the complexity of the semantic problem by moving the focus from the full-featured ontology level to the simpler lexicon level; secondly, it will avoid the drawback of a centralized third party mediator that may become a single point of failure. The main contributions of this work are concerned with (1) providing a proof of concept that language games can be an effective solution to creating and managing a distributed process of agreement on a shared lexicon, (2) describing a fully distributed service oriented architecture for language games, (3) providing empirical evidence on a real world case study in the domain of ski mountaineering.} } @inproceedings{avesani05weblog, author={P. Avesani and M. Cova and C. Hayes and P. Massa}, title={Learning Contextualized Weblog Topics}, year={2005}, month={May}, address={Chiba, Japan}, booktitle={WWW2005, 2nd Annual Workshop on the Weblogging Ecosystem: Aggregation, Analysis and Dynamics}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/avesani05weblog.html}, abstract={The blogosphere refers to the distributed network of user opinions published on the WWW. Whereas centralized review sites such Amazon.com previously allowed users to post opinions on goods such as books and CDs, blogging software allows users to publish opinions on any topic without constraints on predefined schema. However, centralized review sites such as Amazon.com have one significant advantage: reviews pertaining to a single topic are collected together in one place, allowing readers to peruse a diverse range of opinions quickly. In this paper we examine how such a topic-centric view of the Blogosphere can be created. We characterise the problems in aligning similar concepts created by a set of distributed, autonomous users and describe current initiatives to solve the problem. Finally, we introduce the Tagsocratic project, a novel initiative to solve the concept alignment problem using techniques derived from research in language acquisition among distributed, autonomous agents.} } @inproceedings{avesani04service, author={Paolo Avesani and Marco Cova and Roberto Tiella and Arun Sharma}, title={A Service Oriented Architecture for Advertising Games}, year={2004}, month={November}, editor={S. Weerawarana}, booktitle={Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Service Oriented Computing}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/avesani04service.html}, abstract={A critical issue of distributed systems is concerned with the advertising task. Current solutions require an ex-ante agreement on a common shared language. Although such an approach is feasible from the technological point of view, it is not effective in practice. The process of managing this agreement may present social implications that make the solution difficult to achieve. Recent trends in research propose a new approach based on advertising games where the agreement on a common language is produced at run time. Nevertheless up to now such a model has been studied only through simulations with standalone platforms. Our contribution is the design and the development of the first web services oriented architecture for advertising games. Therefore we approached all the issues typical of distributed systems neglected by the simulators like asynchronous communications, denial of services, and so on. Finally we present a real world application where the architecture has been deployed to support the advertising task using an advertising game model.} } @inproceedings{avesani05CBR, author={Paolo Avesani and Conor Hayes and Marco Cova}, title={Language Games: Solving the Vocabulary Problem in Multi-Case-Base Reasoning}, year={2005}, pages={35-49}, booktitle={ICCBR 2005}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/avesani05CBR.html}, abstract={The problem of heterogeneous case representation poses a major obstacle to realising real-life multi-case-base reasoning (MCBR) systems. The knowledge overhead in developing and maintaining translation protocols between distributed case bases poses a serious challenge to CBR developers. In this paper, we situate CBR as a flexible problem-solving strategy that relies on several heterogeneous knowledge containers. We introduce a technique called language games to solve the interoperability issue. Our technique has two phases. The first is an eager learning phase where case bases communicate to build a shared indexing lexicon of similar cases in the distributed network. The second is the problem-solving phase where, using the distributed index, a case base can quickly consult external case bases if the local solution is insufficient. We provide a detailed description of our approach and demonstrate its effectiveness using an evaluation on a real data set from the tourism domain.} } @article{Badalamenti94poissonEvolution, author={A. F. Badalamenti and R. Langs and G. Cramer and J. Robinson}, title={Poisson evolution in word selection}, journal={Mathematical and Computer Modelling}, year={1994}, month={June}, volume={19}, number={12}, pages={27-36}, doi={10.1016/0895-7177(94)90096-5}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/Badalamenti94poissonEvolution.html}, keywords={Word analysis; Stochastic model; Evolutionary process; Rate constants; Poisson}, abstract={This paper presents the finding that the invocation of new words in human language samples is governed by a slowly changing Poisson process. The time dependent rate constant for this process has the form [small lambda, Greek(t)...]. This form implies that there are opening, middle and final phases to the introduction of new words, each distinguished by a dominant rate constant, or equivalently, rate of decay. With the occasional exception of the phase transition from beginning to middle, the rate small lambda, Greek(t) decays monotonically. Thus, small lambda, Greek(t) quantifies how the penchant of humans to introduce new words declines with the progression of their narratives, written or spoken.} } @inproceedings{Baillie05LanguageGamesICDL, author={Jean-Christophe Baillie and Matthieu Nottale}, title={Dynamic Evolution of Language Games between two Autonomous Robots}, year={2005}, booktitle={IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/Baillie05LanguageGamesICDL.html}, keywords={Language acquisition, Language games, Symbol grounding, Social behaviors grounding, Autonomous development, Architectures}, abstract={The 'Talking Robots' experiment, inspired by the 'Talking Heads' experiment from Sony, explores possibilities on how to ground symbols into perception. We present here the first results of this experiment and outline a possible extension to social behaviors grounding: the purpose is to have the robots develop not only a lexicon but also the interaction protocol, or language game, that they use to create the lexicon. This raises several complex problems that we review here.} } @article{baker03tics, author={Mark C. Baker}, title={Linguistic differences and language design}, journal={Trends in Cognitive Sciences}, year={2003}, volume={7}, number={8}, pages={349-353}, doi={10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00157-8}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/baker03tics.html}, abstract={A small number of discrete choices (‘parameters’) embedded within a system of otherwise universal principles create the extensive superficial differences between unrelated languages like English, Japanese, and Mohawk. Most current thinking about the evolution of language ignores or denies the existence of these parameters because it can see no rationale for them. That the human language faculty is organized in this way makes more sense if language is compared to a cipher or code. As such, it would have a purpose of concealing information from some at the same time as it communicates information to others.} } @unpublished{balkenius00theOrigin, author={Christian Balkenius and Peter Gardenfors and Lars Hall}, title={The Origin of Symbols in the Brain}, year={2000}, institution={Lund University Cognitive Science}, note={}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/balkenius00theOrigin.html} } @incollection{barber92ontongenyAnd, author={E. J. W. Barber and A. M. W. Peters}, title={Ontongeny and Phylogeny: What Child Language and Archaeology Have to Say to Each Other}, year={1992}, address={Reading, MA}, editor={Hawkins, John A. and Murray Gell-Mann}, publisher={Addison-Wesley}, booktitle={The Evolution of Human Languages}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/barber92ontongenyAnd.html} } @inproceedings{baronchelli05fastConvergence, author={Andrea Baronchelli and Luca Dall'Asta and Alain Barrat and Vittorio Loreto}, title={Strategies for fast convergence in semiotic dynamics}, year={2006}, pages={480-485}, editor={Luis M. Rocha and et al.}, publisher={MIT Press}, booktitle={Artificial Life X}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/baronchelli05fastConvergence.html}, abstract={Semiotic dynamics is a novel field that studies how semiotic conventions spread and stabilize in a population of agents. This is a central issue both for theoretical and technological reasons since large system made up of communicating agents, like web communities or artificial embodied agents teams, are getting widespread. In this paper we discuss a recently introduced simple multi-agent model which is able to account for the emergence of a shared vocabulary in a population of agents. In particular we introduce a new deterministic agents' playing strategy that strongly improves the performance of the game in terms of faster convergence and reduced cognitive effort for the agents.} } @article{baronchelli05topologyLanguageGame, author={A. Baronchelli and L. Dall'Asta and A. Barrat and V. Loreto}, title={Topology Induced Coarsening in Language Games}, journal={Physical Review E}, year={2005}, volume={73}, pages={015102}, doi={10.1103/PhysRevE.73.015102}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/baronchelli05topologyLanguageGame.html}, abstract={We investigate how very large populations are able to reach a global consensus, out of local ``microscopic'' interaction rules, in the framework of a recently introduced class of models of semiotic dynamics, the so-called Naming Game. We compare in particular the convergence mechanism for interacting agents embedded in a low-dimensional lattice with respect to the mean-field case. We highlight that in low-dimensions consensus is reached through a coarsening process which requires less cognitive effort of the agents, with respect to the mean-field case, but takes longer to complete. In 1-d the dynamics of the boundaries is mapped onto a truncated Markov process from which we analytically computed the diffusion coefficient. More generally we show that the convergence process requires a memory per agent scaling as N and lasts a time N^{1+2/d} in dimension d<5 (d=4 being the upper critical dimension), while in mean-field both memory and time scale as N^{3/2}, for a population of N agents. We present analytical and numerical evidences supporting this picture.} } @article{baronchelli05sharpTransitionVocabulary, author={A. Baronchelli and M. Felici and E. Caglioti and V. Loreto and L. Steels}, title={Sharp Transition towards Shared Vocabularies in Multi-Agent Systems}, journal={J. Stat. Mech.}, year={2006}, number={P06014}, doi={10.1088/1742-5468/2006/06/P06014}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/baronchelli05sharpTransitionVocabulary.html}, keywords={interacting agent models, scaling in socio-economic systems, stochastic processes, new applications of statistical mechanics}, abstract={What processes can explain how very large populations are able to converge on the use of a particular word or grammatical construction without global coordination? Answering this question helps to understand why new language constructs usually propagate along an S-shaped curve with a rather sudden transition towards global agreement. It also helps to analyze and design new technologies that support or orchestrate self-organizing communication systems, such as recent social tagging systems for the web. The article introduces and studies a microscopic model of communicating autonomous agents performing language games without any central control. We show that the system undergoes a disorder/order transition, going trough a sharp symmetry breaking process to reach a shared set of conventions. Before the transition, the system builds up non-trivial scale-invariant correlations, for instance in the distribution of competing synonyms, which display a Zipf-like law. These correlations make the system ready for the transition towards shared conventions, which, observed on the time-scale of collective behaviors, becomes sharper and sharper with system size. This surprising result not only explains why human language can scale up to very large populations but also suggests ways to optimize artificial semiotic dynamics.} } @inproceedings{baronchelli06bootstrappingCommunication, author={Andrea Baronchelli and Vittorio Loreto and Luca Dall'Asta and Alain Barrat}, title={Bootstrapping communication in language games: strategy, topology and all that}, year={2006}, pages={11-18}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Evolution of Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/baronchelli06bootstrappingCommunication.html}, abstract={Semiotic dynamics is a fast growing field according to which language can be seen as an evolving and self-organizing system. In this paper we present a simple multi-agent framework able to account for the emergence of shared conventions in a population. Agents perform pairwise games and final consensus is reached without any outside control nor any global knowledge of the system. In particular we discuss how embedding the population in a non trivial interaction topology affects the behavior of the system and forces to carefully consider agents selection strategies. These results cast an interesting framework to address and study more complex issues in semiotic dynamics.} } @article{barr04conventionalCommunication, author={Dale J. Barr}, title={Establishing conventional communication systems: Is common knowledge necessary?}, journal={Cognitive Science}, year={2004}, month={November-December}, volume={28}, number={6}, pages={937-962}, doi={10.1016/j.cogsci.2004.07.002}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/barr04conventionalCommunication.html}, keywords={Conventions; Common knowledge; Pragmatics; Communication; Multi-agent simulation}, abstract={How do communities establish shared communication systems? The Common Knowledge view assumes that symbolic conventions develop through the accumulation of common knowledge regarding communication practices among the members of a community. In contrast with this view, it is proposed that coordinated communication emerges a by-product of local interactions among dyads. A set of multi-agent computer simulations show that a population of 'egocentric' agents can establish and maintain symbolic conventions without common knowledge. In the simulations, convergence to a single conventional system was most likely and most efficient when agents updated their behavior on the basis of local rather than global, system-level information. The massive feedback and parallelism present in the simulations gave rise to phenomena that are often assumed to result from complex strategic processing on the part of individual agents. The implications of these findings for the development of theories of language use are discussed.} } @article{Bartlett05navigationToLanguage, author={Mark Bartlett and Dimitar Kazakov}, title={The origins of syntax: from navigation to language}, journal={Connection Science}, year={2005}, month={December}, volume={17}, number={3-4}, pages={271-288}, doi={10.1080/09540090500282479}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/Bartlett05navigationToLanguage.html}, keywords={Language faculty, Evolution, Navigation, Computer simulations}, abstract={This article suggests that the parser underlying human syntax may have originally evolved to assist navigation, a claim supported by computational simulations as well as evidence from neuroscience and psychology. We discuss two independent conjectures about the way in which navigation could have supported the emergence of this aspect of the human language faculty: firstly, by promoting the development of a parser; and secondly, by possibly providing a topic of discussion to which this parser could have been applied with minimum effort. The paper summarizes our previously published experiments and provides original results in support of the evolutionary advantages this type of communication can provide, compared with other foraging strategies. Another aspect studied in the experiments is the combination and range of environmental factors that make communication beneficial, focusing on the availability and volatility of resources. We suggest that the parser evolved for navigation might initially have been limited to handling regular languages, and describe a mechanism that may have created selective pressure for a context-free parser.} } @incollection{batali02theNegotiation, author={J. Batali}, title={The negotiation and acquisition of recursive grammars as a result of competition among exemplars}, year={2002}, chapter={5}, editor={Ted Briscoe}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={Linguistic Evolution through Language Acquisition: Formal and Computational Models}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/batali02theNegotiation.html} } @incollection{batali98computationalSimulations, author={J. Batali}, title={Computational simulations of the emergence of grammar}, year={1998}, pages={405-426}, address={Cambridge}, editor={Hurford, J. R. and Studdert-Kennedy, M. and Knight C.}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/batali98computationalSimulations.html}, abstract={A model of simple agents capable of sending and receiving se­ quences of characters and associating them with elements of a set of structured meanings is used to explore the emergence of systematic communication. In computational simulations, each member of a population alternates between learning to interpret the sequences sent by other members, and sending sequences that others learn to interpret. Eventually the agents develop highly coordinated communication systems that incorporate structural regularities reminiscent of those in human languages.} } @unpublished{batali95smallSignaling, author={J. Batali}, title={Small Signaling Systems can Evolve in the Absence of Benefit to the Information Sender}, year={1995}, note={Submitted to Artificial Life}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/batali95smallSignaling.html}, abstract={While it is of clear benefit for the members of a population to be able to make use of information made available by others, it is not as obvious that any benefit accrues to the sender of informative signals. If the sender of information receives no benefit from so doing, a good strategy would be to exploit the informative signals of others, while sending few useful signals. There is therefore a puzzle as to how coordinated signaling systems could have evolved in the absence of benefit to the information sender. These considerations are explored in a formal model of the evolution of populations of animals that possess signaling systems they inherit from their parents. In the model, an individual's reproductive fitness depends only its ability to correctly interpret the signals of others. No maximally coordinated or stable system will emerge under such conditions. However if there is a relatively small number (less than about 10) of distinct sigals to be sent, populations can reach dynamic equilibria in which a significant fraction of the signals are correctly interpreted.} } @inproceedings{batali94innateBiases, author={J. Batali}, title={Innate biases and critical periods: Combining evolution and learning in the acquisition of syntax}, year={1994}, pages={160-171}, address={Cambridge, MA}, editor={R. Brooks and P. Maes}, publisher={MIT Press}, booktitle={Artificial Life IV}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/batali94innateBiases.html}, abstract={Recurrent neural networks can be trained to recognize strings generated by context-free grammars, but the ability of the networks to do so depends on their having an appropriate set of initial connection weights. Simulations of evolution were performed on populations of simple recurrent networks where the selection criterion was the ability of the networks to recognize strings generated by grammars. The networks evolved sets of initial weights from which they could reliably learn to recognize the strings. In order to recognize if a string was generated by a given context-free grammar, it is necessary to use a stack or counter to keep track of the depth of embedding in the string. The networks that evolved in our simulations are able to use the values passed along their recurrent connections for this purpose. Furthermore, populations of networks can evolve a bias towards learning the underlying regularities in a class of related languages. These results suggest a new explanation for the ``critical period'' effects observed in the acquisition of language and other cognitive faculties. Instead of being the result of an exogenous maturational process, the degraded acquisition ability may be the result of the values of innately specified initial weights diverging in response to training on spurious input.} } @incollection{bates99onThe, author={Elizabeth Bates and Judith C. Goodman}, title={On the Emergence of Grammar From the Lexicon}, year={1999}, address={Hillsdale, NJ}, editor={B. MacWhinney}, publisher={Lawrence Earlbaum Associates}, booktitle={Emergence of Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bates99onThe.html} } @article{baxter06utteranceSelectionModel, author={Gareth J. Baxter and Richard A. Blythe and William Croft and Alan J. McKane}, title={Utterance Selection Model of Language Change}, journal={Physical Review E}, year={2006}, volume={73}, pages={046118}, doi={10.1103/PhysRevE.73.046118}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/baxter06utteranceSelectionModel.html}, abstract={We present a mathematical formulation of a theory of language change. The theory is evolutionary in nature and has close analogies with theories of population genetics. The mathematical structure we construct similarly has correspondences with the Fisher-Wright model of population genetics, but there are significant differences. The continuous time formulation of the model is expressed in terms of a Fokker-Planck equation. This equation is exactly soluble in the case of a single speaker and can be investigated analytically in the case of multiple speakers who communicate equally with all other speakers and give their utterances equal weight. Whilst the stationary properties of this system have much in common with the single-speaker case, time-dependent properties are richer. In the particular case where linguistic forms can become extinct, we find that the presence of many speakers causes a two-stage relaxation, the first being a common marginal distribution that persists for a long time as a consequence of ultimate extinction being due to rare fluctuations.} } @book{beaken96theMaking, author={Mike Beaken}, title={The Making of Language}, year={1996}, publisher={Edinburgh University Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/beaken96theMaking.html} } @inproceedings{beal02bootstrappingCommunications, author={Jacob Beal}, title={An Algorithm for Bootstrapping Communications}, year={2002}, month={June}, booktitle={International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS)}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/beal02bootstrappingCommunications.html}, abstract={In a distributed model of intelligence, peer components need to communicate with one another. I present a system which enables two agents connected by a thick twisted bundle of wires to bootstrap a simple communication system from observations of a shared environment. The agents learn a large vocabulary of symbols, as well as inflections on those symbols which allow thematic role-frames to be transmitted. Language acquisition time is rapid and linear in the number of symbols and inflections. The final communication system is robust and performance degrades gradually in the face of problems.} } @unpublished{beaver_simulatedEvolution, author={David Beaver}, title={Simulated Evolution of Language and Language Processors}, year={1997}, note={proposal}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/beaver_simulatedEvolution.html} } @unpublished{belletti99interviewChomsky, author={Adriana Belletti and Luigi Rizzi}, title={AN INTERVIEW ON MINIMALISM with Noam Chomsky}, year={1999}, note={University of Siena, Nov 8-9, 1999 (rev: March 16, 2000)}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/belletti99interviewChomsky.html} } @article{belpaeme07bookreview, author={Tony Belpaeme}, title={Review of ``The Computational Nature of Language Learning and Evolution'' by Partha Niyogi, 2006}, journal={Computational Linguistics}, year={2007}, month={September}, volume={33}, number={3}, pages={429-431}, doi={10.1162/coli.2007.33.3.429}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/belpaeme07bookreview.html} } @phdthesis{belpaeme02factorsInfluencing, author={Tony Belpaeme}, title={Factors influencing the origins of colour categories}, year={2002}, school={Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Artificial Intelligence Lab}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/belpaeme02factorsInfluencing.html}, abstract={Humans perceive a continuous colour spectrum, but divide the spectrum into colour categories in order to reason and communicate about colour. There is an ongoing debate on whether these colour categories necessary for language communication are universal or culture-specific, whether these categories are genetically determined or learned, and whether there is a causal influence of language on colour category acquisition or not. The dissertation presents a number of models, each examining one of these outstanding issues. The models draw on techniques from multi-agent systems, machine learning and evolutionary programming. After considering the behaviour of each model, we conclude in favour of a cultural specificity of language categories and argue that learning under the influence of language is the most plausible explanation for their acquisition.} } @inproceedings{belpaeme02evolang, author={Tony Belpaeme}, title={Understanding the origins of colour categories through computational modelling}, year={2002}, editor={Maggie Tallerman}, booktitle={Proccedings of the 4th International Conference on the Evolution of Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/belpaeme02evolang.html}, abstract={Human colour perception is continuous, but humans categorise the colour continuum and often label the resulting colour categories. The debate on whether colour categorisation is an individual process, or whether it is embedded in genetic constraints has not been settled yet. Further- more, as colour categories have colour names, it is claimed that language could have an influence on the categorisation. This paper reports on agent-based simulations that test the validity of dirent theories, and uncovers the weak and strong points of each. We conclude, from experi- ments using AI techniques, that colour categorisation is most likely to be cultural process.} } @inproceedings{belpaeme01reachingCoherent, author={T. Belpaeme}, title={Reaching coherent color categories through communication}, year={2001}, pages={41-48}, address={Amsterdam, The Netherlands}, editor={Krose, B. and et al.}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 13th Belgium-Netherlands Conference on Artificial Intelligence (BNAIC'01)}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/belpaeme01reachingCoherent.html} } @inproceedings{belpaeme01simulatingThe, author={Tony Belpaeme}, title={Simulating the Formation of Color Categories}, year={2001}, pages={393-400}, address={Seattle, WA}, booktitle={IJCAI01}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/belpaeme01simulatingThe.html}, keywords={Signal-meaning mappings}, abstract={This paper investigates the formation of color categories and color naming in a population of agents. The agents perceive and categorize color stimuli, and try to communicate about these perceived stim- uli. While doing so they adapt their internal representations to be more successful at conveying color meaning in future interactions. The agents have no access to global information or to the representa- tions of other agents; they only exchange word forms. The factors driving the population coherence are the shared environment and the interactions. The experiments show how agents can form a coherent lexicon of color terms and ­particularly­ how a coherent color categorization emerges through these linguistic interactions. The results are interpreted in the light of theories describing and explaining universal tendencies in human color categorization and color naming. At the same time, the experiments confirm aspects of the theories of Luc Steels who views language as a complex dynamic system, arising from selforganization and cultural interactions.} } @article{belpaeme05colorCategoriesABJ, author={Tony Belpaeme and Joris Bleys}, title={Explaining Universal Color Categories Through a Constrained Acquisition Process}, journal={Adaptive Behavior}, year={2005}, volume={13}, number={4}, pages={293-310}, doi={10.1177/105971230501300404}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/belpaeme05colorCategoriesABJ.html}, keywords={color,color categories,linguistic relativism,language game,universalism}, abstract={Color categories enjoy a special status among human perceptual categories as they exhibit a remarkable cross-cultural similarity. Many scholars have explained this universal character as being the result of an innate representation or an innate developmental program which all humans share. We will critically assess the available evidence, which is at best controversial, and we will suggest an alternative account for the universality of color categories based on linguistic transmission constrained by universal biases. We introduce a computational model to test our hypothesis and present results. These show that indeed the cultural acquisition of color categories together with mild constraints on the perception and categorical representation result in categories that have a distribution similar to human color categories.} } @inproceedings{belpaeme05colourfulLanguage_EELC, author={Tony Belpaeme and Joris Bleys}, title={Colourful language and colour categories}, year={2005}, booktitle={Second International Symposium on the Emergence and Evolution of Linguistic Communication}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/belpaeme05colourfulLanguage_EELC.html} } @techreport{bergstrom01thePeacock, author={Carl T. Bergstrom and Rustom Antia and Szabolcs Számadó and Michael Lachmann}, title={The Peacock, the Sparrow, and the Evolution of Human Language}, year={2001}, institution={Santa Fe Institute}, note={working paper #: 01-05-027}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bergstrom01thePeacock.html}, keywords={Language evolution, costly signalling, cues, punishment, dominance, sexual signals}, abstract={How did human language arise, and what accounts for its present structure? Over the past decade, there has been great interest -- and impressive progress -- in using evolutionary theory to address to these and related questions. In particular, a number of studies have shown that several key features of language could plausibly arise and be maintained by natural selection when individuals have coicident interests. However, these models have largely ignored a vital strategic component of the social context in which language is employed: individuals in real societies, both past and present, do not have fully coincident interests. Simultaneously, theoretical models of animal communication have confronted these strategic issues head-on, but they have largely focused on costly (Zahavian) signals. We approach this problem directly, asking the following question: Can language evolve and be maintained under common biological scenarios of non-coincident interest? Using a trio of examples -- the peacock, the sparrow, and human language -- we show that an explicit connection can be drawn between costly signalling theory as developed for the study of animal communication, and the cheap signals employed in human language. We argue that coincident interests are not a prerequisite for linguistic communication, and explore the structural features to be expected of languages employed in societies with non-coincident interests. We find that many of the results derived previously by assuming coincident interests will also be expected under less restrictive models of society.} } @inproceedings{ahmed-redaberrah99speciesAn, author={Ahmed-Reda Berrah and Rafael Laboissière}, title={SPECIES: An Evolutionary Model for the Emergence of Phonetic Structures in an Artificial Society of Speech Agents}, year={1999}, pages={674-678}, address={Berlin}, editor={D. Floreano and J. Nicoud and F. Mondada}, publisher={Springer-Verlag}, booktitle={ECAL99}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/ahmedredaberrah99speciesAn.html} } @incollection{berwick98languageEvolution, author={R. C. Berwick}, title={Language evolution and the minimalist program: The origins of syntax}, year={1998}, address={Cambridge}, editor={Hurford, J. R. and Studdert-Kennedy, M. and Knight C.}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/berwick98languageEvolution.html} } @article{berwick97syntaxFacit, author={R. C. Berwick}, title={Syntax facit saltum}, journal={Journal of Neurolinguistics}, year={1997}, volume={10}, number={2/3}, pages={231-249}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/berwick97syntaxFacit.html} } @article{best_adaptiveValue, author={Michael L. Best}, title={Adaptive Value Within Natural Language Discourse}, journal={Interaction Studies}, year={2006}, volume={7}, number={1}, pages={1-15}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/best_adaptiveValue.html}, keywords={Evolution in communication, adaptation, population memetics, cultural evolution}, abstract={A trait is of adaptive value if it confers a fitness advantage to its possessor. Thus adaptivness is an ahistorical identification of a trait affording some selective advantage to an agent within some particular environment. In results reported here we identify a trait within natural language discourse as having adaptive value by computing a trait/fitness covariance; the possession of the trait correlates with the replication success of the trait's possessor. We show that the trait covaries with fitness across multiple unrelated discursive groups. In our analysis the trait in question is a particular statistically derived word?n? context, that is, a word set. Variation of the word?sage is measured as the relative presence of the word set within a particular text, that is, the percentage of the text devoted to this set of words. Fitness is measured as the rate in which the text is responded to, or replicates, within an online environment. Thus we are studying the micro?volutionary dynamics of natural language discourse.} } @phdthesis{best00microevolutionaryLanguage, author={M. L. Best}, title={Microevolutionary Language Theory}, year={2000}, school={School of Architecture and Planning, MIT}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/best00microevolutionaryLanguage.html}, abstract={A new microevolutionary theory of complex design within language is pro­ posed. Experiments were carried out that support the theory that complex functional design --- adaptive complexity --- accumulates due to the evolu­ tionary algorithm at the simplest levels within human natural language. A large software system was developed which identifies and tracks evolution­ ary dynamics within text discourse. With this system hundreds of examples of activity suggesting evolutionary significance were distilled from a text collection of many millions of words.

Research contributions include: (1) An active replicator model of micro­ evolutionary dynamics within natural language, (2) methods to distill active replicators offering evidence of evolutionary processes in action and at multiple linguistic levels (lexical, lexical co­occurrence, lexico­syntac­ tic, and syntactic), (3) a demonstration that language evolution and organic evolution are both examples of a single over­arching evolutionary algo­ rithm, (4) a set of tools to comparatively study language over time, and (5) methods to materially improve text retrieval.} } @article{best99meaningAs, author={Michael L. Best and Richard Pocklington}, title={Meaning as use: Transmission fidelity and evolution in NetNews}, journal={Journal of Theoretical Biology}, year={1999}, volume={196}, number={3}, pages={389-395}, doi={10.1006/jtbi.1998.0850}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/best99meaningAs.html} } @article{best97culturalEvolution, author={Michael L. Best and Richard Pocklington}, title={Cultural Evolution and Units of Selection in Replicating Text}, journal={Journal of Theoretical Biology}, year={1997}, month={September}, volume={188}, number={1}, pages={79-87}, doi={10.1006/jtbi.1997.0460}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/best97culturalEvolution.html}, abstract={The use of biological models and metaphors in studies of culture has a long and checkered history. While there are many superficial similarities between biological and cultural evolution, attempts to pin down such analogies have not been wholly successful. One limiting factor may be a lack of empirical evidence that the basic assumptions of the evolutionary model are met within a cultural system. We argue that a focus on the detection and description of the units of selection is an essential first step in constructing any evolutionary model. In this paper we outline the necessary connection between units of selection and evolution, describe the properties of a unit of selection, and introduce an empirical method for the detection of putative units of selection in a model cultural system: discourse within NetNews, a discussion system on the Internet.} } @book{bichakjian02languageIn, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={Language in a Darwinian Perspective}, year={2002}, volume={3}, address={Frankfurt}, series={Bochum Publications in Evolutionary Cultural Semiotics}, publisher={Peter Lang}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian02languageIn.html} } @article{bichakjian99languageEvolution, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={Language Evolution and the Complexity Criterion}, journal={Psycoloquy}, year={1999}, volume={10}, number={033}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian99languageEvolution.html}, keywords={complexity, Indo-European, language evolution, lateralization, neoteny, word order} } @incollection{bichakjian97languageEvolution, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={Language Evolution and the Shift to Features Characteristic of the Left Hemis phere}, year={1997}, pages={42-51}, address={Stuttgart}, editor={Andreas Gather and Heinz Werner}, publisher={Steiner}, booktitle={Semiotische Prozesse und natürliche Sprache}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian97languageEvolution.html} } @incollection{bichakjian97evolutionAnd, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={Evolution and the biological Correlates of Linguistic Features}, year={1997}, pages={31-42}, address={London}, editor={Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs}, publisher={Routledge}, booktitle={Archaeology and Language I. Theoretical and Methodological Orientations}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian97evolutionAnd.html} } @incollection{bichakjian96evolutionFrom, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={Evolution: From Biology to Language}, year={1996}, editor={C.C. Magori and C. B. Saanane and F. Schrenk.}, publisher={}, booktitle={Four Million Years of Hominid Evolution in Africa: Papers in Honour of Dr. Mary Douglas Leakey's Outstanding Contribution in Palaeoanthropology.}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian96evolutionFrom.html} } @incollection{bichakjian94languageEvolution, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={Language Evolution: A Darwinian Process}, year={1994}, pages={269-92.}, address={Berlin}, editor={Winfried Nöth}, publisher={Mouton de Gruyter}, booktitle={Origins of Semiosis: Sign Evolution in Nature and Culture}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian94languageEvolution.html} } @article{bichakjian93theProblems, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={The problems of Extrapolating from Creole to DNA to Protolanguage: A reply to Derek Bickerton}, journal={ASCAP Newsletter}, year={1993}, volume={6}, number={2}, pages={12-15}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian93theProblems.html} } @incollection{bichakjian92languageEvolution, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={Language Evolution: Evidence from Historical Linguistics}, year={1992}, pages={507-26}, address={Dordrecht, The Netherlands}, editor={Jan Wind and Bernard H.Bichakjian and Alberto Nocentini and Brunetto Chiarelli}, publisher={Kluwer}, booktitle={Language Origin: A Multidisciplinary Approach}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian92languageEvolution.html} } @book{bichakjian88evolutionIn, author={Bernard H. Bichakjian}, title={Evolution in Language}, year={1988}, address={Ann Arbor, MI}, publisher={Karoma}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bichakjian88evolutionIn.html} } @article{bickerton07LINGUA, author={Derek Bickerton}, title={Language evolution: A brief guide for linguists}, journal={Lingua}, year={2007}, month={March}, volume={117}, number={3}, pages={510-526}, doi={10.1016/j.lingua.2005.02.006}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton07LINGUA.html}, keywords={Language evolution; Protolanguage; Holophrastic language; Social intelligence; Mirror neurons; FOXP2 gene}, abstract={For the benefit of linguists new to the field of language evolution, the author sets out the issues that need to be distinguished in any research on it. He offers a guided tour of contemporary approaches, including the work of linguists (Bickerton, Carstairs-McCarthy, Chomsky, Hurford, Jackendoff, Pinker, Wray), animal behaviour experts (Dunbar, Hauser, Premack, Savage-Rumbaugh), neurophysiologists (Arbib, Calvin), psychologists (Corballis, Donald), archaeologists (Davidson), and computer modellers (Batali, Kirby, Steels). He criticises the expectation that recent discoveries such as ‘mirror neurons’ and the FOXP2 gene will provide easy answers. He emphasises the extremely interdisciplinary nature of this field, and also the importance of involvement in it by linguists, after more than a century of neglect.} } @incollection{bickerton03symbolAndStructure, author={D. Bickerton}, title={Symbol and structure: a comprehensive framework for language evolution}, year={2003}, editor={M.H. Christiansen and S. Kirby}, publisher={Oxford University Press}, booktitle={Language Evolution: The States of the Art}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton03symbolAndStructure.html} } @incollection{bickerton02foragingVersus, author={Derek Bickerton}, title={Foraging Versus Social Intelligence in the Evolution of Protolanguage}, year={2002}, address={Oxford}, chapter={10}, editor={Alison Wray}, publisher={Oxford University Press}, booktitle={The Transition to Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton02foragingVersus.html} } @article{bickerton02bookreview, author={D. Bickerton}, title={Review of ``The Origins of Vowel Systems'' by Bart de Boer, 2001}, journal={Selection}, year={2002}, month={November}, volume={3}, number={1}, pages={127-130}, doi={10.1556/Select.3.2002.1.10}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton02bookreview.html} } @incollection{bickerton00howProtolanguage, author={D. Bickerton}, title={How protolanguage became language}, year={2000}, address={Cambridge}, editor={Chris Knight and James R. Hurford and Michael Studdert-Kennedy}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={The Evolutionary Emergence of Language: Social Function and the Origins of Linguistic Form}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton00howProtolanguage.html} } @incollection{bickerton98catastrophicEvolution, author={D. Bickerton}, title={Catastrophic evolution: The case for a single step from protolanguage to full human language}, year={1998}, address={Cambridge}, editor={Hurford, J. R. and Studdert-Kennedy, M. and Knight C.}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton98catastrophicEvolution.html} } @article{bickerton91languageOrigins, author={Derek Bickerton}, title={Language origins and evolutionary plausibility}, journal={Language and Communication}, year={1991}, volume={11}, number={1-2}, pages={37-39}, doi={10.1016/0271-5309(91)90014-M}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton91languageOrigins.html} } @book{bickerton90languageAnd, author={D. Bickerton}, title={Language and Species}, year={1990}, publisher={University of Chicago Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton90languageAnd.html} } @article{bickerton84theLanguage, author={D. Bickerton}, title={The Language Bioprogram Hypothesis}, journal={Behavioral and Brain Sciences}, year={1984}, volume={7}, number={2}, pages={173-222}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton84theLanguage.html} } @book{bickerton81rootsOf, author={Derek Bickerton}, title={Roots of language}, year={1981}, address={Ann Arbor, MI}, publisher={Karoma}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bickerton81rootsOf.html} } @article{billard99experimentsIn, author={A. Billard and K. Dautenhahn}, title={Experiments in learning by imitation - grounding and use of communication in robotic agents}, journal={Adaptive Behavior}, year={1999}, volume={7}, number={3/4}, pages={415-438}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/billard99experimentsIn.html} } @book{bloom00meaningsOfWordsBOOK, author={Paul Bloom}, title={How Children Learn the Meanings of Words}, year={2000}, publisher={MIT Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bloom00meaningsOfWordsBOOK.html} } @incollection{bloom99evolutionOf, author={P. Bloom}, title={Evolution of language}, year={1999}, address={Cambridge, MA}, editor={R. Wilson and F. Keil}, publisher={MIT Press}, booktitle={MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bloom99evolutionOf.html} } @incollection{bloom99theEvolution, author={P. Bloom}, title={The evolution of new cognitive capacities}, year={1999}, address={Oxford}, editor={M. Corballis}, publisher={Oxford University Press}, booktitle={The descent of mind}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bloom99theEvolution.html} } @article{blume93evolutionaryStability, author={Andreas Blume and Yong-Gwan Kim and Joel Sobel}, title={Evolutionary stability in games of communication}, journal={Games and Economic Behavior}, year={1993}, volume={5}, number={4}, pages={547-575}, doi={10.1006/game.1993.1031}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/blume93evolutionaryStability.html}, abstract={This paper identifies evolutionarily stable outcomes in games in which one player has private information and the other takes a payoff-relevant action. The informed player can communicate at little cost. Outcomes satisfying a set-valued evolutionary stability condition must exist and be efficient in common-interest games. When there is a small cost associated with using each message the outcome preferred by the informed player is stable. The paper introduces a nonequilibrium, set-valued stability notion of entry resistant sets. For games with partial common interest, the no-communication outcome is never an element of an entry resistant set.} } @inproceedings{Bodik03LanguageChange, author={Peter Bodik}, title={Language Change in Multi-generational Community}, year={2003}, booktitle={Proceedings of CALCI'03}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/Bodik03LanguageChange.html}, abstract={Steels in [4] claims that both flux of agents (changing of agents in an experiment) and stochasticity in communication of agents are necessary for a spontaneous change in language. This paper argues that flux of agents alone could be responsible for a spontaneous change in language. This hypothesis is demonstrated by modeling language use through language games played in a population of evolving agents.} } @unpublished{Bodik03thesis, author={Peter Bodik}, title={Emergence of Language in Spatial Language Games}, year={2003}, note={diploma thesis}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/Bodik03thesis.html} } @inproceedings{Bodik03SpatialLexicon, author={Peter Bodik and Martin Takac}, title={Formation of a Common Spatial Lexicon and its Change in a Community of Moving Agents}, year={2003}, publisher={IOS Press}, booktitle={Frontiers in AI: Proceedings of SCAI'03}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/Bodik03SpatialLexicon.html}, abstract={This paper investigates factors influencing the establishment of a common spatial lexicon in a community of agents moving in a simulated environment. The model avoids some traditionally criticized features of other models of the emergence of a common lexicon such as the use of only cued representations, pre-defined fixed meanings shared by all agents, explicit meaning transmission and nonverbal feedback about the outcome of a game. While each agent forms its own concepts for distances and directions, coherent lexicon emerges enabling agents to localize objects in the environment based on their spatial description. Factors necessary for language change are then investigated in an experiment where agents join/leave the community and the results are compared to those of the related model of Steels.} } @mastersthesis{bontempo04, author={James BonTempo}, title={Exploring the dynamics of language change in finite populations}, year={2004}, school={University of Chicago}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bontempo04.html} } @article{botha02eye, author={Rudolf P. Botha}, title={Did language evolve like the vertebrate eye?}, journal={Language and Communication}, year={2002}, month={April}, volume={22}, number={2}, pages={131-158}, doi={10.1016/S0271-5309(01)00020-9}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/botha02eye.html}, keywords={Language evolution; Adaptation; Natural selection; Form-function `misfit'; Complex adaptive design; Adaptive complexity}, abstract={On various modern accounts, human language or some of its features evolved like the vertebrate eye by natural selection. The present article offers a critical appraisal of the way in which this idea is articulated in Pinker and Bloom's (1990) selectionist account of language evolution—the most sophisticated account of its kind. It is argued that this account is less than insightful since it fails to draw some of the conceptual distinctions that are central to a certain requirement for such selectionist accounts. The requirement states that language can be accorded the evolutionary status of an adaptation by natural selection if it exhibits complex adaptive design for some evolutionary significant function.} } @incollection{brighton05minimumDescription, author={Henry Brighton}, title={Linguistic Evolution and Induction by Minimum Description Length}, year={2005}, editor={Werning, M. and Machery, E.}, publisher={Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag}, booktitle={The Compositionality of Concepts and Meanings: Applications to Linguistics, Psychology and Neuroscience}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brighton05minimumDescription.html} } @phdthesis{brighton03phdthesis, author={Henry Brighton}, title={Simplicity as a Driving Force in Linguistic Evolution}, year={2003}, school={Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, The University of Edinburgh}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brighton03phdthesis.html}, abstract={How did language come to have its characteristic structure? Many argue that by understanding those parts of our biological machinery relevant to language, we can explain why language is the way it is. If the hallmarks of language are simply properties of our biological machinery, elicited through the process of language acquisition, then such an explanatory route is adequate.

As soon as we admit the possibility that knowledge of language is learned, in the sense that language acquisition is a process involving inductive generalisations, then an explanatory inadequacy arises. Any thorough explanation of the characteristic structure of language must now explain why the input to the language acquisition process has certain properties and not others. This thesis builds on recent work that proposes that the linguistic stimulus has certain structural properties that arise as a result of linguistic evolution. Here, languages themselves adapt to fit the task of learning: they reflect an accumulated structural residue laid down by previous generations of language users.

Using computational models of linguistic evolution I explore the relationship be- tween language induction and generalisation based on a simplicity principle, and the linguistic evolution of compositional structures. The two main contributions of this thesis are as follows. Firstly, using a model of induction based on the minimum description length principle, I address the question of linguistic evolution resulting from a bias towards compression. Secondly, I carry out a thorough examination of the parameter space affecting the cultural transmission of language, and note that the conditions for linguistic evolution towards compositional structure correspond to (1) specific levels of semantic complexity, and (2), induction based on sparse language exposure.

Ultimately, the story of the evolution of language in humans must depend on an account of the genetic evolution of the biological machinery underlying language. Rather than explicitly encoding the observed constraints on language, I argue that any explanation based on biological evolution should instead aim to explain how the conditions for linguistic evolution, outlined above, came about.} } @article{brighton02compositionalSyntax, author={H. Brighton}, title={Compositional Syntax from Cultural Transmission}, journal={Artificial Life}, year={2002}, volume={8}, number={1}, pages={25-54}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brighton02compositionalSyntax.html}, keywords={Language, Evolution, Syntax, Learning, Compression, Culture}, abstract={A growing body of work demonstrates that syntactic structure can evolve in populations of genetically identical agents. Traditional explanations for the emergence of syntactic structure employ an argument based on genetic evolution: syntactic structure is specified by an innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD). Knowledge of language is complex, yet the data available to the language learner is sparse. This incongruous situation, termed the ``poverty of the stimulus'', is accounted for by placing much of the specification of language in the LAD. The assumption is that the characteristic structure of language is somehow coded genetically. The effect of language evolution on the cultural substrate, in the absence of genetic change, is not addressed by this explanation. We show that the poverty of the stimulus introduces a pressure for compositional language structure when we consider language evolution resulting from iterated observational learning. We use a mathematical model to map the space of parameters that result in compositional syntax. Our hypothesis is that compositional syntax cannot be explained by understanding the LAD alone: compositionality is an emergent property of the dynamics resulting from sparse language exposure.} } @article{brighton_visualizing_ALife, author={H. Brighton and S. Kirby}, title={Understanding Linguistic Evolution by Visualizing the Emergence of Topographic Mappings}, journal={Artificial Life}, year={2006}, month={Spring}, volume={12}, number={2}, pages={229-242}, doi={10.1162/106454606776073323}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brighton_visualizing_ALife.html}, keywords={Language, evolution, visualization, replicators, learning}, abstract={We show how cultural selection for learnability during the process of linguistic evolution can be visualized using a simple iterated learning model. Computational models of linguistic evolution typically focus on the nature of, and conditions for, stable states. We take a novel approach and focus on understanding the process of linguistic evolution itself. What kind of evolutionary system is this process? Using visualization techniques, we explore the nature of replicators in linguistic evolution, and argue that replicators correspond to local regions of regularity in the mapping between meaning and signals. Based on this argument, we draw parallels between phenomena observed in the model and linguistic phenomena observed across languages. We then go on to identify issues of replication and selection as key points of divergence in the parallels between the processes of linguistic evolution and biological evolution.} } @inproceedings{brighton01theSurvival, author={H. Brighton and S. Kirby}, title={The Survival of the Smallest: Stability Conditions for the Cultural Evolution of Compositional Language}, year={2001}, pages={592-601}, editor={J. Kelemen and P. Sosík}, publisher={Springer-Verlag}, booktitle={ECAL01}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brighton01theSurvival.html}, keywords={computational simulation, language evolution, language acquisition, machine learning}, abstract={Recent work in the field of computational evolutionary linguistics suggests that the dynamics arising from the cultural evolution of language can explain the emergence of syntactic structure. We build on this work by introducing a model of language acquisition based on the Minimum Description Length Principle. Our experiments show that compositional syntax is most likely to occur under two conditions specific to hominids: (i) A complex meaning space structure, and (ii) the poverty of the stimulus.} } @techreport{brighton01meaningSpace, author={H. Brighton and S. Kirby}, title={Meaning Space Structure Determines the Stability of Culturally Evolved Compositional Language}, year={2001}, institution={Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit, Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, The University of Edinburgh}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brighton01meaningSpace.html}, keywords={cultural evolution, machine learning, language evolution, dynamical systems} } @incollection{brighton_threehypotheses, author={H. Brighton and S. Kirby and K. Smith}, title={Cultural Selection for Learnability: Three principles underlying the view that language adapts to be learnable}, year={2005}, chapter={13}, editor={Tallerman, M.}, publisher={Oxford: Oxford University Press}, booktitle={Language Origins: Perspectives on Evolution}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brighton_threehypotheses.html} } @inproceedings{smith_situatedCognition, author={Henry Brighton and Simon Kirby and Kenny Smith}, title={Situated cognition and the role of multi-agent models in explaining language structure}, year={2003}, pages={88-109}, editor={D. Kudenko and E. Alonso and D. Kazakov}, publisher={Springer}, booktitle={Adaptive Agents and Multi-Agent Systems: Adaptation and Multi-Agent Learning}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/smith_situatedCognition.html}, abstract={How and where are the universal features of language specified? We consider language users as situated agents acting as conduits for the cultural transmission of language. Using multi-agent computational models we show that certain hallmarks of language are adaptive in the context of cultural transmission. This observation requires us to reconsider the role of innateness in explaining the characteristic structure of language. The relationship between innate bias and the universal features of language becomes opaque when we consider that significant linguistic evolution can occur as a result of cultural transmission.} } @article{brighton05review, author={Henry Brighton and Kenny Smith and Simon Kirby}, title={Language as an evolutionary system}, journal={Physics of Life Reviews}, year={2005}, month={September}, volume={2}, number={3}, pages={177-226}, doi={10.1016/j.plrev.2005.06.001}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brighton05review.html}, keywords={Language; Evolution; Artificial life; Culture; Adaptation; Replication}, abstract={John Maynard Smith and EöSzathmá argued that human language signified the eighth major transition in evolution: human language marked a new form of information transmission from one generation to another [Maynard Smith J, Szathmá E. The major transitions in evolution. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press; 1995]. According to this view language codes cultural information and as such forms the basis for the evolution of complexity in human culture. In this article we develop the theory that language also codes information in another sense: languages code information on their own structure. As a result, languages themselves provide information that influences their own survival. To understand the consequences of this theory we discuss recent computational models of linguistic evolution. Linguistic evolution is the process by which languages themselves evolve. This article draws together this recent work on linguistic evolution and highlights the significance of this process in understanding the evolution of linguistic complexity. Our conclusions are that: (1) the process of linguistic transmission constitutes the basis for an evolutionary system, and (2), that this evolutionary system is only superficially comparable to the process of biological evolution.} } @inproceedings{briscoe06powerLaw, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Language learning, power laws and sexual selection}, year={2006}, pages={19-26}, booktitle={Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Evolution of Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe06powerLaw.html}, abstract={I discuss the ubiquity of power law distributions in language organisation (and elsewhere), and argue against Miller's (2000) argument that large vocabulary size is a consequence of sexual selection. Instead I argue that power law distributions are evidence that languages are best modelled as dynamical systems but raise some issues for models of iterated language learning.} } @incollection{briscoe02, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Coevolution of the language faculty and language(s) with decorrelated encodings}, year={2005}, chapter={14}, editor={Tallerman, M.}, publisher={Oxford: Oxford University Press}, booktitle={Language Origins: Perspectives on Evolution}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe02.html} } @incollection{briscoe02grammaticalAssimilation, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Grammatical Assimilation}, year={2003}, editor={M.H. Christiansen and S. Kirby}, publisher={Oxford University Press}, booktitle={Language Evolution: The States of the Art}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe02grammaticalAssimilation.html} } @incollection{briscoe02introduction, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Introduction}, year={2002}, chapter={1}, editor={Ted Briscoe}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={Linguistic Evolution through Language Acquisition: Formal and Computational Models}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe02introduction.html} } @book{briscoe-2002-editedbook, title={Linguistic Evolution through Language Acquisition: Formal and Computational Models}, year={2002}, editor={E. J. Briscoe}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe2002editedbook.html} } @incollection{briscoe02grammaticalAcquisition, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Grammatical Acquisition and Linguistic Selection}, year={2002}, chapter={9}, editor={Ted Briscoe}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={Linguistic Evolution through Language Acquisition: Formal and Computational Models}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe02grammaticalAcquisition.html} } @unpublished{briscoe00anEvolutionary, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={An evolutionary approach to (logistic-like) language change}, year={2000}, note={Draft of DIGS6 talk, Maryland, 23rd May 2000 and Univ of Sussex, 8th Dec 2000}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe00anEvolutionary.html} } @incollection{briscoe00evolutionaryPerspectives, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Evolutionary Perspectives on Diachronic Syntax}, year={2000}, editor={Pintzuk, S. and Tsoulas, G. and Warner, A.}, publisher={}, booktitle={Diachronic Syntax: Models and Mechanisms}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe00evolutionaryPerspectives.html} } @article{briscoe00grammaticalAcquisition, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Grammatical Acquisition: Inductive Bias and Coevolution of Language and the Language Acquisition Device}, journal={Language}, year={2000}, volume={76}, number={2}, pages={245-296}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe00grammaticalAcquisition.html} } @unpublished{briscoe00notes, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Macro and micro models of linguistic evolution}, year={2000}, note={unpublished notes on talk presented at The 3rd Int. Conf. on Lg. and Evolution, Paris, April, 2000.}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe00notes.html} } @article{briscoe99theAcquisition, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={The Acquisition of Grammar in an Evolving Population of Language Agents}, journal={Electronic Transactions on Artificial Intelligence}, year={1999}, volume={3}, note={Section B: Selected Articles from the Machine Intelligence 16 Workshop}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe99theAcquisition.html} } @inproceedings{briscoe98languageAs, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Language as a Complex Adaptive System: Coevolution of Language and of the Language Acquisition Device}, year={1998}, editor={H. van Halteren and et al.}, booktitle={Proceedings of Eighth Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands Conference}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe98languageAs.html} } @inproceedings{briscoe97acl, author={E. J. Briscoe}, title={Co-evolution of Language and of the Language Acquisition Device}, year={1997}, publisher={Morgan Kaufmann}, booktitle={Proc. of 35th Assoc. for Comp. Ling.}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/briscoe97acl.html} } @inproceedings{brooks05cladistics, author={Daniel R. Brooks and Esra Erdem and James W. Minett and Don Ringe}, title={Character-Based Cladistics and Answer Set Programming}, year={2005}, pages={37--51}, booktitle={Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages (PADL)}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brooks05cladistics.html}, abstract={We describe the reconstruction of a phylogeny for a set of taxa, with a character-based cladistics approach, in a declarative knowledge representation formalism, and show how to use computational methods of answer set programming to generate conjectures about the evolution of the given taxa. We have applied this computational method in two domains: to historical analysis of languages, and to historical analysis of parasite-host systems. In particular, using this method, we have computed some plausible phylogenies for Chinese dialects, for Indo-European language groups, and for Alcataenia species. Some of these plausible phylogenies are different from the ones computed by other software. Using this method, we can easily describe domain specific information (e.g. temporal and geographical constraints), and thus prevent the reconstruction of some phylogenies that are not plausible.} } @article{broom02entropy, author={Mark Broom}, title={Using Game Theory to Model the Evolution of Information: an Illustrative Game}, journal={Entropy}, year={2002}, volume={4}, number={2}, pages={35-46}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/broom02entropy.html}, keywords={Game theory, evolution, evolutionarily stable strategy, evolution of information, entropy, animal communication, dominance}, abstract={The application of information theory to biology can be broadly split into three areas: (i) At the level of the genome; considering the storage of information using the genetic code. (ii) At the level of the individual animal; communication between animals passes information from one animal to another (usually, but not always, for mutual benefit). (iii) At the level of the population; the diversity of a population can be measured using population entropy. This paper is concerned with the second area. We consider the evolution of an individual's ability to obtain and process information using the ideas of evolutionary game theory. An important part of game theory is the definition of the information available to the participants. Such games tend to treat information as a static quantity whilst behaviour is strategic. We consider game theoretic modelling where use of information is strategic and can thus evolve. A simple model is developed which shows how the information acquiring ability of animals can evolve through time. The model predicts that it is likely that there is an optimal level of information for any particular contest, rather than more information being inherently better. The total information required for optimal performance corresponded to approximately the same entropy, regardless of the value of the individual pieces of information concerned.} } @article{brown06phonologyEvolution, author={J.C. Brown and Chris Golston}, title={Embedded structure and the evolution of phonology}, journal={Interaction Studies}, year={2006}, volume={7}, number={1}, pages={17-41}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/brown06phonologyEvolution.html}, keywords={consonants; embedding; language evolution; phonology; vowels}, abstract={This paper explores a structure ubiquitous in grammar, the embedded tree, and develops a proposal for how such embedded structures played a fundamental role in the evolution of consonants and vowels. Assuming that linguistic capabilities emerged as a cognitive system from a simply reactive system and that such a transition required the construction of an internal mapping of the system body (cf. Cruse 2003), we propose that this mapping was determined through articulation and acoustics. By creating distinctions between articulators in the vocal tract or by acoustic features of sounds, and then embedding these distinctions, the various possible properties of consonants and vowels emerged. These embedded distinctions represent paradigmatic options for the production of sounds, which provide the basic building blocks for prosodic structure. By anchoring these embedded structures in the anatomy and physiology of the vocal tract, the evolution of phonology itself can be explained by extra-linguistic factors.} } @incollection{bryant06phylogeneticMethods, author={David Bryant}, title={Radiation and Network Breaking in Polynesian Linguistics}, year={2006}, pages={111-}, chapter={9}, editor={Peter Forster and Colin Renfrew}, publisher={}, booktitle={Phylogenetic Methods and the Prehistory of Languages}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bryant06phylogeneticMethods.html} } @inproceedings{bullock97anExploration, author={Seth Bullock}, title={An Exploration of Signalling Behaviour by both Analytic and Simulation Means for both Discrete and Continuous Models}, year={1997}, address={Cambridge, MA}, editor={Husbands, P. and Harvey, I.}, publisher={MIT Press.}, booktitle={ECAL97}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bullock97anExploration.html} } @book{burling05talkingApe, author={Robbins Burling}, title={The Talking Ape: How Language Evolved}, year={2005}, publisher={Oxford University Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/burling05talkingApe.html} } @incollection{burling02theSlow, author={Robbins Burling}, title={The Slow Growth of Language in Children}, year={2002}, address={Oxford}, chapter={14}, editor={Alison Wray}, publisher={Oxford University Press}, booktitle={The Transition to Language}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/burling02theSlow.html} } @incollection{burling00comprehensionProduction, author={Robbins Burling}, title={Comprehension, production and conventionalization in the origins of language}, year={2000}, address={Cambridge}, editor={Chris Knight and James R. Hurford and Michael Studdert-Kennedy}, publisher={Cambridge University Press}, booktitle={The Evolutionary Emergence of Language: Social Function and the Origins of Linguistic Form}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/burling00comprehensionProduction.html} } @incollection{burling99motivation, author={Robbins Burling}, title={Motivation, Conventionalization, and Arbitrariness in the Origin of Language}, year={1999}, chapter={9}, editor={Barbara J. King}, publisher={School of American Research Press}, booktitle={The Origins of Language: What Nonhuman Primates Can Tell Us}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/burling99motivation.html} } @article{buzing05jasss, author={P.C. Buzing and A.E. Eiben and M.C. Schut}, title={Emerging communication and cooperation in evolving agent societies}, journal={Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation}, year={2005}, volume={8}, number={1}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/buzing05jasss.html}, keywords={Social Simulation, Communication, Cooperation, Artificial Societies}, abstract={The main contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it presents a new software system for empirical investigations of evolving agent societies in SugarScape like environments. Second, it introduces a conceptual framework for modeling cooperation in an artificial society. In this framework the environmental pressure to cooperate is controllable by a single parameter, thus allowing systematic investigations of system behavior under varying circumstances. Third, it reports upon results from experiments that implemented and tested environments based upon this new model of cooperation. The results show that the pressure to cooperate leads to the evolution of communication skills facilitating cooperation. Furthermore, higher levels of cooperation pressure lead to the emergence of increased communication.} } @inproceedings{buzing03ECAL, author={P.C. Buzing and A.E. Eiben and M.C. Schut}, title={Evolving Agent Societies with VUScape}, year={2003}, pages={434-441}, booktitle={ECAL03}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/buzing03ECAL.html}, abstract={The main contribution of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it presents a new system for empirical investigations of evolving agent societies in SugarScapelike environments, which improves existing Sugarscape testbeds. Secondly, we introduce a framework for modelling communication and cooperation in an animal society. In this framework the environmental pressure to communicate and cooperate is controllable by a single parameter. We perform several experiments with different values for this parameter and observe some surprising outcomes.} } @incollection{bybee_cognitiveProcesses, author={J. L. Bybee}, title={Cognitive processes in grammaticalization}, year={2002}, address={New Jersey}, editor={M. Thomasello}, publisher={Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.}, booktitle={The New Psychology of Language,volume II}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bybee_cognitiveProcesses.html} } @unpublished{bybee01mechanismsOf, author={J. L. Bybee}, title={Mechanisms of change in grammaticization:the role of frequency}, year={2001}, note={}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bybee01mechanismsOf.html} } @article{bybee98aFunctionalist, author={Joan L. Bybee}, title={A Functionalist Approach to Grammar and its Evolution}, journal={Evolution of Communication}, year={1998}, volume={2}, number={2}, pages={249-278}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bybee98aFunctionalist.html} } @incollection{bybee88morphologyAs, author={J. L. Bybee}, title={Morphology as lexical organization}, year={1988}, pages={119-141}, address={San Diego}, editor={M. Hammond and M. Noonan}, publisher={Academic Press}, booktitle={Theoretical morphology}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bybee88morphologyAs.html} } @book{bybee85morphologyA, author={J. L. Bybee}, title={Morphology: A study of the relation between meaning and form}, year={1985}, address={Philadelphia}, publisher={Benjamins}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bybee85morphologyA.html} } @book{bybee_frequencyAnd, author={J. L. Bybee and Paul Hopper}, title={Frequency and the Emergence of Language Structure}, year={2001}, address={Amsterdam}, publisher={John Benjamins}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bybee_frequencyAnd.html} } @book{bybee94theEvolution, author={J. L. Bybee and Revere Perkins and William Pagliuca}, title={The evolution of grammar: tense, aspect and modality in the language of the world}, year={1994}, address={Chicago}, publisher={University of Chicago Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/bybee94theEvolution.html} } @incollection{Cace06EELC, author={Ivana Cace and Joanna J. Bryson}, title={Agent Based Modelling of Communication Costs: Why Information can be Free}, year={2006}, address={London}, editor={C. Lyon and C. L Nehaniv and A. Cangelosi}, publisher={Springer}, booktitle={Emergence and Evolution of Linguistic Communication}, note={in press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/Cace06EELC.html} } @book{calvin00linguaEx, author={William H. Calvin and Derek Bickerton}, title={Lingua ex Machina}, year={2000}, publisher={MIT Press}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/calvin00linguaEx.html} } @article{cangelosi07LanguageSciences, author={Angelo Cangelosi}, title={Adaptive Agent Modeling of Distributed Language: Investigations on the Effects of Cultural Variation and Internal Action Representations}, journal={Language Sciences}, year={2007}, doi={10.1016/j.langsci.2006.12.026}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/cangelosi07LanguageSciences.html}, keywords={Symbol grounding; Language evolution; Computational modeling; Neural networks; Embodied cognition}, abstract={In this paper we present the `grounded adaptive agent' computational framework for studying the emergence of communication and language. This modeling framework is based on simulations of population of cognitive agents that evolve linguistic capabilities by interacting with their social and physical environment (internal and external symbol grounding). These models provide an integrative vision of language where the linguistic abilities of cognitive agents strictly depend on other social, sensorimotor, neural and cognitive capabilities. Here language is not seen as an isolated and dedicated symbol processing system, but rather as a heterogeneous set of artifacts implicated in cultural and cognitive activities. The proposed modeling approach is also closely related to embodied cognition theories of the grounding of language in the organism's perceptual and motor systems.} } @article{cangelosi06PragmaticsAndCognition, author={Angelo Cangelosi}, title={The Grounding and Sharing of Symbols}, journal={Pragmatics and Cognition}, year={2006}, volume={14}, number={2}, pages={275-285}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/cangelosi06PragmaticsAndCognition.html}, keywords={artificial life, cognitive modeling, neural networks, symbol grounding}, abstract={The double function of language, as a social/communicative means, and as an individual/cognitive capability, derives from its fundamental property that allows us to internally re-represent the world we live in. This is possible through the mechanism of symbol grounding, i.e. the ability to associate entities and states in the external and internal world with internal categorical representations. The symbol grounding mechanism, as language, has both an individual and a social component. The individual component, called the “Physical Symbol Grounding”, refers to the ability of each individual to create an intrinsic link between world entities and internal categorical representations. The social component, called “Social Symbol Grounding”, refers to the collective negotiation for the selection of shared symbols (words) and their grounded meanings. The paper discusses these two aspects of symbol grounding in relation to distributed cognition, using examples from cognitive modeling research on grounded agents and robots.} } @article{cangelosi05PlymouthUnivResearch, author={A. Cangelosi}, title={Evolving cognitive systems: Adaptive behaviour and cognition research at the University of Plymouth}, journal={Cognitive Processing}, year={2005}, volume={6}, pages={202-207}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/cangelosi05PlymouthUnivResearch.html} } @incollection{cangelosi05groundingSymbols, author={A. Cangelosi}, title={Approaches to Grounding Symbols in Perceptual and Sensorimotor Categories}, year={2005}, pages={719-737}, editor={H. Cohen and C. Lefebvre}, publisher={Elsevier}, booktitle={Handbook of Categorization in Cognitive Science}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/cangelosi05groundingSymbols.html} } @article{Cangelosi05neuralAdaptiveAgentModels, author={Angelo Cangelosi}, title={The emergence of language: neural and adaptive agent models}, journal={Connection Science}, year={2005}, month={December}, volume={17}, number={3-4}, pages={185-190}, doi={10.1080/09540090500177471}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/Cangelosi05neuralAdaptiveAgentModels.html} } @inproceedings{cangelosi04sab, author={A. Cangelosi}, title={The sensorimotor bases of linguistic structure: Experiments with grounded adaptive agents}, year={2004}, month={July}, pages={487-496}, address={Los Angeles}, editor={S. Schaal and et al.}, publisher={Cambridge MA, MIT Press}, booktitle={SAB04}, note={Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on the Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour: From Animals to Animats 8}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/cangelosi04sab.html} } @article{cangelosi03braincognition, author={A. Cangelosi}, title={Neural network models of category learning and language}, journal={Brain and Cognition}, year={2003}, volume={53}, number={2}, pages={106-107}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/cangelosi03braincognition.html} } @article{cangelosi03aisb, author={A. Cangelosi}, title={Grounding language in sensorimotor and cognitive categories}, journal={AISB Quarterly}, year={2003}, volume={115}, pages={5-8}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/cangelosi03aisb.html} } @article{cangelosi01evolutionOf, author={A. Cangelosi}, title={Evolution of communication and language using signals, symbols, and words}, journal={IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation}, year={2001}, month={April}, volume={5}, number={2}, pages={93-101}, url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/cangelosi01evolutionOf.html}, abstract={This paper describes different types of models for the evolution of communication and language. It uses the distinction between signals, symbols, and words for the analysis of evolutionary models of language. In particular, it show how evolutionary computation techniques, such as Artificial Life, can be used to study the emergence of syntax and symbols from simple communication signals. Initially, a computational model that evolves repertoires of isolated signals is presented. This study has simulated the emer- gence of signals for naming foods in a population of foragers. This type of model studies communication systems based on simple signal-object associations. Subsequently, models that study the emergence of grounded symbols are discussed in general, including a detailed description of a work on the ev