Abstract
To explain the origins of language, we need to explain three puzzles: First how it has been possible for a group of agents, i.e., our early human ancestors, to develop a shared repertoire of sounds with the complexity of human languages. Our species was not the first to do so, because birds have also complex evolving sound repertoires. But it is one distinguishing feature with respect to other hominid species such as chimpanzees (Lieberman, 1991). Second, we must explain how sounds, gestures, or other physical signs can be given meaning, in other words how a semiotic system may arise. The songs of birds do not carry meaning. Even though gestures or sounds used by chimpanzees might, they do not appear to productively associate an open-ended set of meanings with an open-ended set of forms. Third, we must explain the emergence of grammar: how compositional form can be associated with compositional meaning. This chapter focuses only on the second part, the emergence of semiotic systems.
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Steels, L. (2002). Grounding Symbols through Evolutionary Language Games. In: Cangelosi, A., Parisi, D. (eds) Simulating the Evolution of Language. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0663-0_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0663-0_10
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