Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Complex Evolutionary Pathways in Interacting Linguistic Communities

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Advances in Computational Social Science

Part of the book series: Agent-Based Social Systems ((ABSS,volume 11))

  • 1124 Accesses

Abstract

We experiment with a linguistic change mechanism in a community of interacting agents and show the various phenomena that may emerge under different social constraints. We assume phonological and lexical learning and a semantic reference to external objects in the environment. Distinct groups of agents with initially different languages converge to a common language, with the relevant frequency of inter-agent interactions controlling which language dominates. Moreover, an initially monolingual community diverges due to social factors creating agent grouping, where agents interact more frequently with members of the same group. Additional cognitive features, like innovation and attention , lead to increased linguistic divergence between groups and word bistability. Finally, cultural learning leads to continuous linguistic change and occasional coexistence of multiple words, as well as revival of rare words. Overall, it appears that the initial community may evolve in arbitrary directions, and languages may dynamically form, split , mutate, and oscillate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    Mutations are introduced when the PhonoStrength of the perceived word is lower than PThresh, see Table 14.3.

  2. 2.

    The actual time (number of steps) it takes for a simulation to stabilize depends on the initial languages and the interaction frequency.

  3. 3.

    Which is above pThresh = 0.6.

References

  1. Acerbi A, Parisi D (2006) Cultural transmission between and within generations. J Artif Soc Soc Simul 9(1):9. http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/9/1/9.html

  2. Beltran FS, Herrando S, Ferreres D, Adell M-A, Estreder V, Ruiz-Soler M (2009) Forecasting a language shift based on cellular automata. J Artif Soc Soc Simul 12(3):5. http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/12/3/5.html

  3. Canfield JV (1995) The rudiments of language. Lang Commun 15(3):195–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cangelosi A, Smith ADM, Smith K (2006) The evolution of language. In: Proceedings of the 6th international conference (EVOLANG6). World Scientific Publishing, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  5. Castelló X, Toivonen R, Eguíluz VM, Miguel MS (2007) Modeling bilingualism in language competition: the effects of complex social structure. In: ESSA 2007

    Google Scholar 

  6. Croft W (2006) The relevance of an evolutionary model to historical linguistics. In: Thomsen ON (ed) Competing models of linguistic change evolution and beyond. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, pp 91–132

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Dahl O (2004) The growth and maintenance of linguistic complexity. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Dessalles JL (2007) Why we talk. The evolutionary origins of language. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  9. Gumperz JJ (2008) The handbook of pidgin and creole studies. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kouwenberg S, Singler JV (2007) Why we talk. The evolutionary origins of language. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  11. Maynard Smith J, Szathmáry E (1995) The major transitions in evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  12. McMahon A (1994) Understanding language change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  13. Miestamo M, Sinnemaki K, Karlsson F (2008) Language complexity: typology, contact, change. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam

    Book  Google Scholar 

  14. Nolfi S, Mirolli M (2010) Evolution of communication and language in embodied agents. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Nowak MA, Plotkin JB, Krakauer DC (1999) The evolutionary language game. J Theor Biol 200:147–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Oudeyer PY (2005) The self-organization of speech sounds. J Theor Biol 233:435–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Oudeyer PY, Kaplan F (2007) Language evolution as a Darwinian process: computational studies. Cogn Process 8:21–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Oyama S, Gray RD, Griffiths PE (2007) Cycles of contingency: developmental systems and evolution. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  19. Parisi D (2005) Language as pragmatics: studying meaning with simulated language games. In: Brisard F (ed) Seduction, community, and speech. A Festschrift for Herman Parret. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  20. Perfors A (2002) Simulated evolution of language: a review of the field. J Artif Societies Soc Sim 5(2):4. http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/5/2/4.html

  21. Rosenbach A (2008) Language change as cultural evolution: evolutionary approaches to language change. In: Eckardt R, Jager G, Veenstra T (eds) Variation, selection, development. Probing the evolutionary model of language change. Mouton, Berlin, p 23

    Google Scholar 

  22. Sampson G, Gil D, Trudgill P (2009) Language complexity as an evolving variable. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  23. Satterfield T (2008) Back to nature or nurture: using computer models in creole genesis. In: Eckardt R, Jager G, Veenstra T (eds) Variation, selection, development. Probing the evolutionary model of language change. Mouton, Berlin, p 143

    Google Scholar 

  24. Steels L (1996) Perceptually grounded meaning creation. ICMAS, Kyoto

    Google Scholar 

  25. Steels L (1997) The synthetic modeling of language origins. Evol Commun J 1(1):1–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Steels L (2000) Language as a complex adaptive system. In: Schoenauer M, Deb K, Rudolph G, Yao X, Lutton E, Merelo JJ, Schwefel H-P (eds) Lecture notes in computer science. Parallel problem solving from nature PPSN VI. Springer, Berlin, pp 17–26

    Google Scholar 

  27. Tomasello M (2003) Constructing a language: a usage-based theory of language acquisition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  28. Vagias I, Tzafestas E (2011) Modeling combined phonological and lexical change of two linguistic communities through social interaction. In: ESSA 2011

    Google Scholar 

  29. Wittgenstein L (1958) Philosophical investigations (trans: Anscombe GEM). Basil Blackwell Ltd., Oxford

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive Science Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and History of Science, University of Athens, University Campus, Ano Ilisia, 15771, Athens, Greece

    Ioannis Vagias & Elpida Tzafestas

Authors
  1. Ioannis Vagias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elpida Tzafestas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elpida Tzafestas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Shu-Heng Chen

  2. Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

    Takao Terano

  3. Department of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

    Ryuichi Yamamoto

  4. Department of Economics, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Chung-Ching Tai

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Japan

About this paper

Cite this paper

Vagias, I., Tzafestas, E. (2014). Complex Evolutionary Pathways in Interacting Linguistic Communities. In: Chen, SH., Terano, T., Yamamoto, R., Tai, CC. (eds) Advances in Computational Social Science. Agent-Based Social Systems, vol 11. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54847-8_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics