Hermann Ackermann, Wolfram Ziegler
Audra Ames, Sara Wielandt, Dianne Cameron, Stan Kuczaj
David Ardell, Noelle Anderson, Bodo Winter
Rie Asano, Edward Ruoyang Shi
Mark Atkinson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Andreas Baumann, Christina Prömer, Kamil Kazmierski, Nikolaus Ritt
Christian Bentz
Aleksandrs Berdicevskis, Hanne Eckhoff
Richard A. Blythe, Alistair H. Jones, Jessica Renton
Cedric Boeckx, Constantina Theofanopoulou, Antonio Benítez-Burraco
Megan Broadway, Jamie Klaus, Billie Serafin, Heidi Lyn
Jon W. Carr, Kenny Smith, Hannah Cornish, Simon Kirby
Federica Cavicchio, Livnat Leemor, Simone Shamay-Tsoory, Wendy Sandler
Zanna Clay, Jahmaira Archbold, Klaus Zuberbuhler
Katie Collier, Andrew N. Radford, Balthasar Bickel, Marta B. Manser, Simon W. Townsend
Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby, Marieke Schouwstra
Christine Cuskley, Vittorio Loreto
Christine Cuskley, Bernardo Monechi, Pietro Gravino, Vittorio Loreto
Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Sabrina Engesser, Amanda R. Ridley, Simon W. Townsend
Dankmar Enke, Roland Mühlenbernd, Igor Yanovich
Kerem Eryilmaz, Hannah Little, Bart de Boer
Nicolas Fay, Shane Rogers
Maryia Fedzechkina, Becky Chu, T. Florian Jaeger, John Trueswell
Olga Feher, Kenny Smith, Elizabeth Wonnacott, Nikolaus Ritt
Piera Filippi, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Daniel Liu Bowling, Larissa Heege, Albert Newen, Onur Güntürkün, Bart de Boer
Piera Filippi, Jenna V. Congdon, John Hoang, Daniel Liu Bowling, Stephan Reber, Andrius Pašukonis, Marisa Hoeschele, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Bart de Boer, Christopher B. Sturdy, Albert Newen, Onur GÜntÜrkÜn
Molly Flaherty, Katelyn Stangl, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Marlen Fröhlich, Paul H Kuchenbuch, Gudrun Müller, Barbara Fruth, Takeshi Furuichi, Roman M Wittig, Simone Pika
Victor Gay, Daniel Hicks, Estefania Santacreu-Vasut
Andreea Geambasu, Michelle J. Spierings, Carel ten Cate, Clara C. Levelt
Matt Hall, Russell Richie, Marie Coppola
Stefan Hartmann, Peeter Tinits, Jonas Nölle, Thomas Hartmann, Michael Pleyer
Wolfram Hinzen, Joana Rosselló
Rick Janssen, Bodo Winter, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik, Sean Roberts
Rick Janssen, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Jasmeen Kanwal, Kenny Smith, Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby
Deborah Kerr, Kenny Smith
Buddhamas Kriengwatana, Paola Escudero, Anne Kerkhoven, Carel ten Cate
Adriano Lameira, Jeremy Kendal, Marco Gamba
Molly Lewis, Michael C. Frank
Casey Lister, Tiarn Burtenshaw, Nicolas Fay, Bradley Walker, Jeneva Ohan
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Giuseppe Longobardi, Armin Buch, Andrea Ceolin, Aaron Ecay, Cristina Guardiano, Monica Irimia, Dimitris Michelioudakis, Nina Radkevich, Gerhard Jaeger
Heidi Lyn, Stephanie Jett, Megan Broadway, Mystera Samuelson
Michael Mcloughlin, Luca Lamoni, Ellen Garland, Simon Ingram, Alexis Kirke, Michael Noad, Luke Rendell, Eduardo Miranda
Adrien Meguerditchian, Damien Marie, Konstantina Margiotoudi, Scott A. Love, Alice Bertello, Romain Lacoste, Muriel Roth, Bruno Nazarian, Jean-Luc Anton, Olivier Coulon
Jérôme Michaud
Ashley Micklos
Marie Montant, Johannes Ziegler, Benny Briesemeister, Tila Brink, Bruno Wicker, Aurélie Ponz, Mireille Bonnard, Arthur Jacobs, Mario Braun
Yasamin Motamedi, Marieke Schouwstra, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Roland Mühlenbernd, Johannes Wahle
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya
Savithry Namboodiripad, Daniel Lenzen, Ryan Lepic, Tessa Verhoef
Alan Nielsen, Dieuwke Hupkes, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Bill Noble, Raquel Fernández
Irene M. Pepperberg, Katia Zilber-Izhar, Scott Smith
Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan, Bodo Winter, Dominic Massaro
Ljiljana Progovac
Andrea Ravignani, Tania Delgado, Simon Kirby
Terry Regier, Alexandra Carstensen, Charles Kemp
Lilia Rissman, Laura Horton, Molly Flaherty, Marie Coppola, Annie Senghas, Diane Brentari, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Gareth Roberts, Mariya Fedzechkina
Carmen Saldana, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Carlos Santana
William Schueller, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Catriona Silvey, Christos Christodoulopoulos
Katie Slocombe, Stuart Watson, Anne Schel, Claudia Wilke, Emma Wallace, Leveda Cheng, Victoria West, Simon Townsend
Ruth Sonnweber, Andrea Ravignani
Michelle Spierings, Carel ten Cate
Kevin Stadler, Elyse Jamieson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Monica Tamariz, Joleana Shurley
Monica Tamariz, Jon W. Carr
Bill Thompson, Heikki Rasilo
Oksana Tkachman, Carla L. Hudson Kam
Simon Townsend, Andrew Russell, Sabrina Engesser
Francesca Tria, Vittorio Loreto, Vito Servedio, S. Mufwene Salikoko
Anu Vastenius, Jordan Zlatev, Joost Van de Weijer
Tessa Verhoef, Carol Padden, Simon Kirby
Slawomir Wacewicz, Przemyslaw Zywiczynski, Arkadiusz Jasinski
Bodo Winter, David Ardell
Bodo Winter, Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan
Marieke Woensdregt, Kenny Smith, Chris Cummins, Simon Kirby
Eva Zehentner, Andreas Baumann, Nikolaus Ritt, Christina Prömer
Keywords: transmission noise, compositionality, structure preservation, iterated learning model, cultural evolution, population structure, morphology, phonology, Linguistic Niche Hypothesis
Short description: Noise in Phonology Affects Encoding Strategies in Morphology: exploring effects of noise, population size and structure using Iterated Learning Models
Abstract:
As with the evolution of a population’s genetic variability, the evolution of human linguistic variability must be shaped by multiple interacting forces. The iterated learning paradigm (for overview, see Kirby, Griffiths & Smith, 2014) demonstrates that languages can evolve compositional structure when there is a learning bottleneck: Learners infer a linguistic system from limited input, requiring them to generalize beyond what they observe. Through this, linguistic patterns that are systematically structured become more frequent in the process of cultural evolution.
Besides the ‘transmission bottleneck’ (Hurford, 2002), the social composition of languages has been argued to be another force acting upon language structure. The 'Linguistic Niche Hypothesis' (Lupyan & Dale, 2010) proposes that morphological complexity is inversely correlated with population size. The mechanism behind this correlation is commonly assumed to be a learning difficulty of adult second language learners in acquiring specifically morphology (Bentz & Winter, 2013; Trudgill, 2011). However, crucially, the major share of evidence for the Linguistic Niche Hypothesis is correlational, leaving the underlying mechanism underspecified (Nettle, 2012).
An additional mechanism explaining the loss of morphological complexity in larger populations may be phonological variability. Adult learners introduce heterogeneity (effectively noise) into the phonological system (Nettle, 2012: 1833-1835). Larger populations harbor more pronunciation variants, paralleling the higher ‘noise’ present in large populations in the form of stochastic genetic variation. In a large population of speakers, noise is incorporated via contact with other dialects or because of second language learners with different accents. Because morphological markers generally rest on limited phonetic material, they are susceptible to ambiguity if phonological turnover in a population of speakers is high. Using a sequential strategy (i.e., different words/ word order changes) to mark the same contrast in meaning will be a more robust encoding strategy in high-noise signaling channels (Nettle, 2012).
A signal space in an iterated learning framework in principal has multiple dimensions by which they could evolve to preserve the structure of a meaning space. We wish to demonstrate clearly that ILM chains evolve so as to be robust to transmission noise by allocating important differences in meaning to the most reliable dimensions of transmission in signal space. We argue that perhaps the presence of noise causes the self-organization in encoding known as structure-preservation, as is also seen in genetic codes (Sella & Ardell, 2002).
Although effects of dimensionality and noise have been discussed (e.g., Little, Eryilmaz & de Boer, 2015), systematic quantitative study of how meanings get embedded in signal spaces of different sizes and structures in the ILM is still missing. Integrating ideas from the evolution of the genetic code, we propose a computational architecture that addresses the role of noise in the ILM framework when dimensions of the signal space and population size are modulated. We aim specifically to demonstrate the transition from a morphological/paradigmatic to a syntagmatic/sequential strategy as phonological turnover increases. We predict that within parameter regions without added noise, ILM chains break evenly across these two orthogonal dimensions of compositionality. Under our hypothesis, the introduction of noise into the transmission of one of these dimensions will disrupt the stability of induction and expression and the languages will evolve robustness to this noise. We discuss our hypothesis in light of recent contradictory experimental results (Atkinson, Kirby & Smith, 2015),. Through our model, we attempt to demonstrate that noise in phonology biases against paradigmatic systems with morphological markers relying on minimal phonological elements. Rather than contradicting the Linguistic Niche Hypothesis, the proposed results from our study will provide an alternative mechanism for population-dependent effects on the evolution of language structure.
References
Atkinson, M., Kirby, S. & Smith, K. (2015). Speaker Input Variability Does Not Explain Why Larger Populations Have Simpler Languages. PLoS One, 10(6), e0129463
Bentz, C., & Winter, B. (2013). Languages with more second language learners tend to lose nominal case. Language Dynamics & Change, 3, 1-27.
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Kirby, S., Griffiths, T.L., & Smith, K. (2014). Iterated learning and the evolution of language. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 28, 108-114.
Little, H., Eryilmaz, K. & de Boer. B. (2015). Linguistic Modality Affects the Creation of Structure and Iconicity in Signals. In D. C. Noelle, R. Dale, A. S. Warlaumont, J. Yoshimi, T. Matlock, C. D. Jennings, & P. P. Maglio (Eds.), Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1392-1398). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Lupyan, G., & Dale, R. (2010). Language structure is partly determined by social structure. PloS one, 5(1), e8559.
Nettle, D. (2012). Social scale and structural complexity in human languages. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1597), 1829–1836.
Citation:
Ardell D., Anderson N. and Winter B. (2016). Noise In Phonology Affects Encoding Strategies In Morphology. In S.G. Roberts, C. Cuskley, L. McCrohon, L. Barceló-Coblijn, O. Fehér & T. Verhoef (eds.) The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference (EVOLANG11). Available online: http://evolang.org/neworleans/papers/165.html