Full-text

|| Go to publishers' web page for final fulltext/PDF. (see the Authoritative link as below)

URL: http://www.ptb.ias.edu/plotkin/InfoTheory.pdf

Cached: PDF-188K

SAVE AS an easy-to-recall long filename:

Filename format: author--year--title   PDF-188K

Filename format: author--year--title--journal|proceedings|...--pages   PDF-188K

Related links

Authoritative: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jtbi.2000.2053   (Publisher's PDF... likely be available here.)

Web search: Google Web Search   ::   Google Scholar

Within this site: Cited by (11)    References (17)

Abstract

This paper places models of language evolution within the framework of information theory. We study how signals become associated with meaning. If there is a probability of mistaking signals for each other, then evolution leads to an error limit: increasing the number of signals does not increase the fitness of a language beyond a certain limit. This error limit can be overcome by word formation: a linear increase of the word length leads to an exponential increase of the maximum fitness. We develop a general model of word formation and demonstrate the connection between the error limit and Shannon's noisy coding theorem.

@article{plotkin00languageEvolution,
  author={J. B. Plotkin and M. A. Nowak},
  title={Language evolution and information theory},
  journal={Journal of Theoretical Biology},
  year={2000},
  volume={205},
  number={1},
  pages={147-159},
  doi={10.1006/jtbi.2000.2053},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/plotkin00languageEvolution.html}
}

HOME   ::  Journal List   ::   Article	Comments to: junwang4 you-know-at gmail.com	Last update: 2/2/08