Grammar structure and the dynamics of language evolution
Authors: 
Yoosook Lee, Travis C. Collier, Gregory M. Kobele, Edward P. Stabler, Charles E. TaylorAuthors Info & Claims
Pages 624 - 633
Abstract
The complexity, variation, and change of languages make evident the importance of representation and learning in the acquisition and evolution of language. For example, analytic studies of simple language in unstructured populations have shown complex dynamics, depending on the fidelity of language transmission. In this study we extend these analysis of evolutionary dynamics to include grammars inspired by the principles and parameters paradigm. In particular, the space of languages is structured so that some pairs of languages are more similar than others, and mutations tend to change languages to nearby variants. We found that coherence emerges with lower learning fidelity than predicted by earlier work with an unstructured language space.
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Published In
September 2005
948 pages
ISBN:3540288481
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Berlin, Heidelberg
Publication History
Published: 05 September 2005
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