Exploring the Roles of Horizontal, Vertical, and Oblique Transmissions in Language Evolution

This article proposes an acquisition framework that involves horizontal, vertical, and oblique transmissions. Based on a lexicon–syntax coevolution model, it discusses the relative roles of these forms of cultural transmission on language origin and change. The simulation results not only reveal an integrated role of oblique transmission that combines the roles of horizontal and vertical transmissions in preserving linguistic understandability within and across generations of individuals, but also show that both horizontal and oblique transmissions are more necessary than vertical transmission for language evolution in a multiagent cultural environment.