Experiments in cultural language evolution / edited by Luc Steels.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Steels, Luc.

Series:

Advances in interaction studies ; v. 3.

Advances in interaction studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Anthropological linguistics.

Linguistic paleontology.

Language and languages--Origin.

Language and languages.

Physical Description:

xii, 306 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub. Co., 2012.

Summary:

This book is the first comprehensive report on the results of a long-term research project, begun in 1995, to build and validate a theory for the cultural origins and evolution of human languages, using computer models to simulate processes of evolutionary linguistics. The book describes the development of technologies necessary for large-scale artificial language evolution experiments, such as a new formalism for grammar, which can be used for studying language as an evolving complex adaptive system; a formalism for embodied cognitive semantics, which can be embedded in artificial robotic agents; and a humanoid robot platform for carrying out language games and experiments. The book's introduction explains the theory of cultural language evolution that underlies the experiments discussed in the rest of the book. Editor Steels is affiliated with the Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

1 Foreword p. vii / Luc Steels

2 Introduction. Self-organization and selection in cultural language evolution p. 1 / Luc Steels

3 Part I. Emergence of perceptually grounded vocabularies

4 The\Grounded Naming Game p. 41 / Luc Steels; Martin Loetzsch

5 Language strategies for color p. 61 / Joris Bleys

6 Emergent mirror systems for body language p. 87 / Luc Steels; Michael Spranger

7 The\co-evolution of basic spatial terms and categories p. 111 / Michael Spranger

8 Multi-dimensional meanings in lexicon formation p. 143 / Pieter Wellens; Martin Loetzsch

9 Part II. Emergence of grammatical systems

10 The\evolution of case systems for marking event structure p. 169 / Remi van Trijp

11 Emergent functional grammar for space p. 207 / Michael Spranger; Luc Steels

12 The\emergence of internal agreement systems p. 233 / Katrien Beuls; Luc Steels; Sebastian Höfer

13 A\language strategy for aspect p. 257 / Kateryna Gerasymova; Michael Spranger; Katrien Beuls

14 The\emergence of quantifiers p. 277 / Simon Pauw; Joseph Hilferty

15 Index p. 305.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789027204561

902720456X

9789027274953

9027274959

OCLC:

761369234