Language as a complex adaptive system

Language as a Complex Adaptive System

The paper surveys recent work on modeling the origins of communication systems in groups of autonomous distributed agents. It is shown that five principles gleaned from biology are crucial: reinforcement learning, selforganisation, selectionism, co-evolution through structural coupling, and level formation. Official reference: Steels, L. (2000) Language as a complex adaptive system. Lecture Not...

Metathesis: Language as a Complex Adaptive System

It is now well understood that language use shapes the acoustic delivery of phonological patterns and, in particular, phonological change. One example of this type of language change-under-use is metathesis, the reversal of the expected linear ordering of sounds. The gradual transformation of chipotle to chipolte, a Spanish import, is an example of metathetic change in American English. The Gen...

Language as a Complex Adaptive System : Coevolution of Language and of the

An account of parameter setting during grammatical acquisition is presented in terms of Generalized Categorial Grammar embedded in a multiple default inheritance hierarchy, providing a natural partial ordering on the setting of parameters (Briscoe, 1997a). Experiments reported show that several experimentally eeective learners can be deened in this framework capable of reliably acquiring a gram...

Robust Language Acquisition - an Emergent Consequence of Language as a Complex Adaptive System

Each of us as learners had different language experiences, yet we have converged on broadly the same language system. From diverse, noisy samples, we end up with similar competence. How so? Some views hold that there are constraints in the learner’s estimation of how language works, as expectations of linguistic universals pre-programmed in some innate language acquisition device. Others hold t...

Innovation as a complex adaptive system