HOME   ::  Edited Book List   ::   Book Chapter
Hurford, J. (2000) Social transmission favours linguistic generalization. In Chris Knight and James R. Hurford and Michael Studdert-Kennedy, editors, The Evolutionary Emergence of Language: Social Function and the Origins of Linguistic Form, pages 324--352. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bookmark:  

Full-text
   URL: http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~jim/evoconf2.s.ps
   Cached: PDF-202K    PS-202K    PS.gz-78K   
   SAVE AS an easy-to-recall long filename:
      Filename format: author--year--title   PDF-202K    PS-78K    :: About GZip'd PS
      Filename format: author--year--title--journal|proceedings|...--pages   PDF-202K    PS-78K   

Related links
   Source: http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~jim/london.secintro.html
   CiteSeer: http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/hurford98social.html
  Web search: Google Web Search   ::   Google Scholar
  Within this site: Cited by (30)    References (11)

Paper at a Glance 

SOCIAL TRANSMISSION FAVOURS LINGUISTIC GENERALIZATION
James R Hurford,
Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit,
Linguistics Department, University of Edinburgh.
jim@ling.ed.ac.uk
http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~jim/
Abstract This study focusses on the emergence and preservation of linguistic generalizations in a com­ munity. Generalizations originate in the innate capacities of individuals for language acquisition and invention. The cycle of language transmission through individual competences (I­languages) and public performance (E­language) selects differentially between innately available types of gen­ eralization. Thus, certain types of general pattern tend to survive in the community's language system as a consequence of social transmission. Computational simulations are described in which a population that initially shares no common signalling system converges over time on a coordinated system. For the emergence of shared vocabularies, the dynamics of such systems are now well understood. This paper demonstrates how systems with syntax can emerge from the same fundamental population dynamics. The essential ingredients of the computational model are:
1. Individuals are capable of representing complex meanings; 2. Individuals who have no rules for signalling meanings have a repertoire of sounds which they may randomly emit, when attempting to ``express a meaning''; 3. Individuals are capable of inferring, or postulating, general ruly correlations in observed pairings of complex meanings and strings of sounds; 4. Once inferred by an individual, a ruly connection between a complex meaning and a sound­ sequence becomes the default basis for the expression of complex meanings by that individual. This model incorporates no Darwinian selection of individuals by fitness, and no selection of meaning­form pairings by utility or psycholinguistic complexity. Although these classical evolution­ ary factors are relevant to the evolution of language(s), this paper ...
BibTex
@incollection{hurford00socialTransmission,
  author={J. Hurford},
  title={Social transmission favours linguistic generalization},
  year={2000},
  pages={324-352},
  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/hurford00socialTransmission.html}
}

 HOME   ::  Edited Book List   ::   Book Chapter Comments to: junwang4 you-know-at gmail.com Last update: 2/2/08