Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Emergence of Linguistic Structure: An Overview of the Iterated Learning Model

  • Chapter
Simulating the Evolution of Language

Abstract

As language users humans possess a culturally transmitted system of unparalleled complexity in the natural world. Linguistics has revealed over the past 40 years the degree to which the syntactic structure of language in particular is strikingly complex. Furthermore, as Pinker and Bloom point out in their agenda-setting paper Natural Language and Natural Selection “grammar is a complex mechanism tailored to the transmission of propositional structures through a serial interface” (Pinker and Bloom, 1990: 707). These sorts of observations, along with influential arguments from linguistics and psychology about the innateness of language (see Chomsky, 1986; Pinker, 1994), have led many authors to the conclusion that an explanation for the origin of syntax must invoke neo-Darwinian natural selection.

“The most basic principle guiding [language] design is not communicative utility but reproduction — theirs and ours ... Languages are social and cultural entities that have evolved with respect to the forces of selection because in its reproduction from generation to generation, it must pass through a narrow bottleneck: children’s minds.” (Deacon, 1997:110)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Ackley D, Littman M (1994) Altruism in the evolution of communication. In: Brooks R, Maes P (eds) Artificial Life 4: Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems. Addison-Wesley, Redwood City CA, pp 40–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Batali J (1998) Computational simulations of the emergence of grammar. In: Hurford J, Knight C, Studdert-Kennedy M (eds) Approaches to the evolution of human language: Social and cognitive basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, 405–426

    Google Scholar 

  • Batali J (2001). The negotiation and acquisition of recursive grammars as a result of competition among exemplars. In Briscoe EJ (ed) Linguistic evolution through language acquisition: Formal and computational models. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Belew R (1990) Evolution, learning, and culture: Computational metaphors for adaptive algorithms. Complex Systems, 4: 11–49

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Bickerton D (1990) Language and species. University of Chicago Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd R, Richerson PJ (1985) Culture and the evolutionary process. University of Chicago Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Brighton H, Kirby S (2001a) Meaning space structure determines the stability of culturally evolved compositional language. Submitted to the Cognitive Science Society Conference 2001

    Google Scholar 

  • Brighton H, Kirby S (2001b) The survival of the smallest: stability conditions for the cultural evolution of compositional language. Submitted to CogSci2001, the 23rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society

    Google Scholar 

  • Briscoe EJ (2000) Evolutionary perspectives on diachronic syntax. In: Pintzuk S, Tsoulas G, Warner A (eds) Diachronic syntax: Models and mechanisms. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullock S (1997) An exploration of signalling behaviour by both analytic and simulation means for both discrete and continuous models. In: Husband P, Harvey I (eds) Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Artificial Life. MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp 454–463

    Google Scholar 

  • Cangelosi A, Parisi D (1998) The emergence of a ‘language’ in an evolving population of neural networks. Connection Science, 10: 83–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky N (1986) Knowledge of language. Praeger

    Google Scholar 

  • de Bourcier P, Wheeler M (1997) The truth is out there: The evolution of reliability in aggressive communication systems. In: Husband P, Harvey I (eds) Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Artificial Life. MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp 444–453

    Google Scholar 

  • Deacon TW (1997) The symbolic species: The coevolution of language and human brain. Penguin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Paolo E (1997) An investigation into the evolution of communication. Adaptive Behaviour, 6: 285–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francis N, Kucera H (1982) Frequency analysis of English usage: Lexicon and grammar. Houghton Mifflin, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Frege G (1892) Über sinn und bedeutung. Zeitschrift fur Philosophie und Philosophische Kritik, 100:25–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Goroll N (1999) (The deep blue) Nile: Neuronal influences on language evolution. Master’s thesis, University of Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurford JR (1999) Language learning from fragmentary input. In: Dautenhahn K, Nehaniv C (eds) Proceedings of the AISB’99 Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts. Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour, pp 121–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurford JR (2000). Social transmission favours linguistic generalization. In Knight C, Studdert-Kennedy M, Hurford JR (eds) The evolutionary emergence of language: Social function and the origins of linguistic form. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 324–352

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hurford JR (2001a) Expression/induction models of language evolution: dimensions and issues. In: Briscoe EJ (ed) Linguistic evolution through language acquisition: Formal and computational models. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurford JR (2001b) The neural basis of predicate argument structure. Submitted to Behavioral and Brain Sciences

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirby S (1999a) Function, selection and innateness: The emergence of language universals. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirby S (1999b) Learning, bottlenecks and infinity: A working model of the evolution of syntactic communication. In: Dautenhahn K, Nehaniv C (eds) Proceedings of the AISB’99 Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts. Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour, pp 121–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirby S (1999c) Syntax out of learning: The cultural evolution of structured communication in a population of induction algorithms. In Floreano D, Nicoud J-D, Mondada F (eds) Advances in Artificial Life (Number 1674 in Lecture Notes in Computer Science). Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirby S (2000) Syntax without natural selection: How compositionality emerges from vocabulary in a population of learners. In Knight C, Studdert-Kennedy M, Hurford JR (eds) The evolutionary emergence of language: Social function and the origins of linguistic form. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 303–323

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kirby S (2001a) Learning, bottlenecks and the evolution of recursive syntax. In: Briscoe EJ (ed) Linguistic evolution through language acquisition: Formal and computational models. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirby S (2001b) Spontaneous evolution of linguistic structure: An iterated learning model of the emergence of regularity and irregularity. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation and Cognitive Science, 5(2): 102–110 (Special issue on Evolutionary Computation and Cognitive Science)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Kirby S, Hurford JR (1997) Learning, culture and evolution in the origin of linguistic constraints. In: Husband P, Harvey I (eds) Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Artificial Life. MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp 493–502

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin M (1995) The evolution of understanding: A genetic algorithm model of the evolution of communication. Biosystems, 36: 167–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacLennan B, Burghardt G (1994). Synthetic ethology and the evolution of cooperative communication. Adaptive Behaviour, 2: 161–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newmeyer F (1991) Functional explanation in linguistics and the origins of language, Language and Communication, 11: 3–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niyogi P, Berwick RC (1995) The logical problem of language change, Technical Report AIM-1516, MIT AI Lab

    Google Scholar 

  • Noble J (1998) Evolved signals: Expensive hype vs conspiratorial whispers. In: Adami C, Belew R, Kitano H, Taylor C (eds) Artificial Life 6: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Artificial Life. MIT Press, Cambridge MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowak MA, Komarova NL, Niyogi P (2001) Evolution of universal grammar. Science, 291: 114–118

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Nowak MA, Plotkin JB, Jansen VAA (2000) The evolution of syntactic communication. Nature, 404: 495–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliphant M (1996) The dilemma of saussurean communication. BioSystems, 37: 31–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliphant M, Batali J (1997) Learning and the emergence of coordinated communication. Center for Research on Language Newsletter, 11(1)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinker S (1994) The language instinct. Penguin

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinker S (1999) Words and rules. Weidenfeld & Nicolson

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinker S, Bloom P (1990) Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 13:707–784

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siskind J (1996) A computational study of cross-situational techniques for learning word-to-meaning mappings. In: Brent MR (ed) Computational approaches to language acquisition. MIT Press, Cambridge MA pp 39–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith K (2001a) Establishing communication systems without explicit meaning transmission. Submitted to the European Conference on Artificial Life 2001

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith K (2001b) The evolution of learning mechanisms supporting symbolic communication. Submitted to CogSci2001, the 23rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith K (in press) Learners are losers: Natural selection and learning in the evolution of communication. Adaptive Behaviour

    Google Scholar 

  • Steels L (1997) The synthetic modeling of language origins. Evolution of Communication, 1: 1–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steels L (1999) The talking heads experiment (Volume I. Words and meanings). Antwerpen: Laboratorium, Special pre-edition

    Google Scholar 

  • Tonkes B, Wiles J (in prep) Methodological issues in simulating the emergence of language. Submitted to the volume arising out of the Third Conference on the Evolution of Language, Paris 2000

    Google Scholar 

  • Werner GM, Dyer MG (1991) Evolution of communication in artificial organisms. In: Langton C, Taylor C, Farmer J, Rasmussen S (eds) Artificial Life 2, Addison-Wesley, Redwood City CA, pp 659–687

    Google Scholar 

  • Werner GM, Todd P (1997) Too many love songs: Sexual selection and the evolution of communication. In: Husband P, Harvey I (eds) Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Artificial Life. MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp 434–443

    Google Scholar 

  • Wray A (1998) Protolanguage as a holistic system for social interaction. Language and Communication, 18: 47–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamauchi H (1999) Evolution of the LAD and the Baldwin effect. Master’s thesis, University of Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Zipf GK (1936) The psycho-biology of language. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Simon Kirby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James R. Hurford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Neural and Adaptive Systems, School of Computing, University of Plymouth, 7 Kirkby Place, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK

    Angelo Cangelosi Laurea, PhD

  2. Institute of Psychology, National Research Council, Viale Marx 15, 00137, Rome, Italy

    Domenico Parisi Laurea, MA

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2002 Springer-Verlag London Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kirby, S., Hurford, J.R. (2002). The Emergence of Linguistic Structure: An Overview of the Iterated Learning Model. In: Cangelosi, A., Parisi, D. (eds) Simulating the Evolution of Language. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0663-0_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0663-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-85233-428-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-0663-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation