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Zuidema, W. and Hogeweg, P. (2000) Selective advantages of syntactic language - a model study. In Proceedings of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, pages 577--582. Hillsdale, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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Selective advantages of syntactic language | a model study
Willem H. Zuidema 
jelle@csl.sony.fr
Theoretical Biology, Utrecht University
Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht
The Netherlands
Paulien Hogeweg
p.hogeweg@bio.uu.nl
Theoretical Biology, Utrecht University
Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht
The Netherlands
Abstract We study a computational model of the evolution of language in groups of agents to evaluate under which circumstances syntax emerges. The tness in the model depends on the composition of the population. We nd that this fact signi cantly alters the evolu- tionary dynamics. If scores are attributed to both speaker and hearer, expressive syntax is hard to ob- tain. If scores are attributed only to the hearer, syntax develops, but agents loose the willingness to speak. Implications and a possible solution of this paradox are discussed.
Introduction Among the many di erences between human language and other animal communication systems, syntax is widely acknowledged to be particularly important. Syntax allows us to combine a nite set of meaningful units into an unbounded set of combinations. It allows us to speak about events happening at other times and places. It allows us to communicate about causal rela- tions, to phrase questions or imperatives, and to share in detail previous experiences. The emergence of syn- tactic language is therefore considered to be one of the major transitions in evolution (Szathmary & Maynard- Smith, 1995). In the traditional view, syntax reconciles the need for high expressiveness with some of the natural boundary conditions on communication such as mem- ory limitations, errors in distinguishing sounds, or bottlenecks in the transmission of language knowl- edge. However, present-day language ful lls many more functions than exchanging information, includ- ing facilitating social relations, individual expression, increase of status, esthetic experience and perhaps in- ternalizing our knowledge of the world. It is unclear in what ...
BibTex
@inproceedings{zuidema00selectiveAdvantages,
  author={W. Zuidema and P. Hogeweg},
  title={Selective advantages of syntactic language - a model study},
  year={2000},
  pages={577-582},
  address={Hillsdale, USA},
  publisher={Lawrence Erlbaum Associates},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/zuidema00selectiveAdvantages.html}
}

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