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: Pragmatics, Communication Games, Context, Shared Knowledge, Language Structure, Autonomy
Abstract:
At the heart of any communication system is the goal of reducing uncertainty about the intended meaning of the speaker. In achieving this aim, speakers not only rely on the conventional meaning of linguistic forms, but also on how these forms interact with the contextual information at hand. In short, when context is known and informative, it helps in reducing uncertainty about the intended meaning (Piantadosi, Tily & Gibson, 2012). This relationship between context, meaning and uncertainty has important consequences for how cultural evolutionary processes shape the structure of linguistic systems. A recurrent observation is that languages vary in their signal autonomy: the degree to which a signal can be interpreted in isolation, without recourse to contextual information (Wray & Grace, 2007). One hypothesis is that signal autonomy is causally related to contextual predictability: to what extent can a speaker estimate and therefore exploit the contextual information that a hearer is likely to use in interpreting an utterance.
To investigate these claims, we experimentally simulate the relative pressures from speakers and hearers in a communication game, with the main manipulation being to the referential context: the relationship between a target object and a set of distractor objects, and how these impact upon the task of discrimination (Winters, Kirby & Smith, 2015). For the training phase, participants were trained on an artificial language, which consisted of randomly generated sets of 2-3 syllable signals. These signals were then assigned to four images that differed from each other on the dimensions of shape and colour (e.g., blue blob, grey oval, red square, yellow star). The trained language was therefore ambiguous with respect to whether the signals referred to colour, shape, or both colour and shape. Participants were then assigned fixed roles of either a speaker or a hearer for the communication phase. In each trial, speakers typed a signal for a target image, and hearers used this signal to discriminate the target from a set of three distractors (the context). There were a total of 16 target images a speaker needed to convey over three blocks of 32 trials.
To test for the effect of referential context on signal autonomy we manipulated two variables: (i) context-type (across trial predictability) and (ii) access to context (within trial predictability). Context-type is the extent to which a particular dimension (e.g., shape) is relevant for discrimination across successive trials. For the {\em Shape Different} referential contexts, the context-type remains consistent across trials, as targets and distractors differ in shape, but share the same colour. {\em Mixed} context-types vary across trials: half of the trials consist of contexts in which the target and distractors differ in shape (but share the same colour) and half in which they differ in colour (but share the same shape). We also manipulated whether the speaker had knowledge about the relevant distinctions needed to communicate with the hearer. In the Shared conditions, speakers had access to the context (i.e., the target and distractors that hearer was confronted with), whereas in the Unshared condition speakers only saw the target in isolation (although the hearer's task remained the same: to distinguish a target from a set of three distractors). This gives us four conditions: Shape-Different Shared, Shape-Different Unshared, Mixed Shared, Mixed Unshared. By decreasing contextual predictability within and across trials we predict that speakers will respond by creating more autonomous signals (and vice versa).
Our results show that context does shape the degree of signal autonomy: when the context is predictable, languages are organised to be less autonomous (more context-dependent) through combining linguistic signals with context to reduce uncertainty. When the context decreases in predictability, speakers favour strategies that promote autonomous signals, allowing linguistic systems to reduce their context dependency. For the Shape-Different Shared condition, which was maximally predictable in terms of context-type and access to context, speakers only conveyed the shape dimension in their linguistic systems, leaving out the colour dimension as this was irrelevant to communicative success (resulting in low autonomy). Conversely, in the Mixed Unshared condition, which had the lowest contextual predictability, speakers consistently opted for strategies that promoted compositional structure: this allowed for autonomous systems that specified both colour and shape within the linguistic system. For the conditions in-between these two extremes of contextual predictability -- Shape-Different Unshared and Mixed Shared -- speakers were more heterogeneous in their strategy choice, with the resulting systems varying in their degree of autonomy. Taken together, these results show how pragmatic factors can play a salient role in the cultural evolution of language, with manipulations to contextual predictability shaping the types of systems that emerge over repeated interactions between speakers and hearers.
Citation:
Winters J., Kirby S. and Smith K. (2016). Signal Autonomy Is Shaped By Contextual Predictability. 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/92.html