Abstract
We review some of the main theories about how language emerged. We suggest that including the study of the emergence of artificial languages, in simulation settings, allows us to ask a more general question, namely, what are the minimal initial conditions for the emergence of language? This is a very important question from a technological viewpoint, because it is very closely tied to questions of intelligence and autonomy. We identify anticipation as being a key underlying computational principle in the emergence of language. We suggest that this is in fact present implicitly in many of the theories in contention today. Focused simulations that address precise questions are necessary to isolate the roles of the minimal initial conditions for the emergence of language.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aiello, L.C.: The foundations of human language. In: Jablonski, N.G., Aiello, L.C.(eds.) The Origin and Diversification of Language. Wattis Symposium Series in Anthropology, Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences, Number 24. University of California Press (1998)
Aiello, L.C., Dunbar, R.I.M.: Neocortex size, group size, and the evolution of language. Current Anthropology 34, 184–193 (1993)
Arbib, M.A.: From monkey-like action recognition to human language: an evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28, 105–167 (2005)
Balkenius, C., Gärdenfors, P., Hall, L.: The origin of symbols in the brain. In: Proceedings of the Conference on the Evolution of Language, Paris (2000)
Bassler, B.L.: How bacteria talk to each other: Regulation of gene expression by quorum sensing. Current Opinion in Microbiology 2, 582–587 (1999)
Bickerton, D.: Language and Species. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1990)
Butz, M.V., Sigaud, O., Gérard, P.: Internal models and anticipations in adaptive learning systems. In: Butz, M.V., Sigaud, O., Gérard, P. (eds.) Anticipatory Behavior in Adaptive Learning Systems: Foundations, Theories, and Systems. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 2684, pp. 86–109. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)
Byrne, R., Whiten, A. (eds.): Machiavellian Intelligence. Social Expertise and the Evolution of Intellect in Monkeys, Apes and Humans. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1988)
Cangelosi, A.: Modeling the evolution of communication: From stimulus associations to grounded symbolic associations. In: Floreano, J.N.D., Mondada, F.( eds.) Proceedings of the European Conference on Artificial Life, Berlin, pp. 654–663 Springer-Verlag (1999)
Cangelosi, A., Parisi, D.: The emergence of a ” language” in an evolving population of neural networks. Connection Science 10, 83–97 (1998)
Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M.: Constraints and preadaptations in the earliest stages of language evolution. Linguistic Review 22, 135–159 (2005)
Chomsky, N.: Rules and Representations. Columbia University Press, New York (1980)
Christiansen, M.H., Kirby, S.: Language evolution: The hardest problem in science? In: Christiansen, M., Kirby, S. (eds.) Language Evolution: The States of the Art, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (2003)
Comrie, B.: From potential to realisation: An episode in the origin of language. In: Trabant, J., Ward, S. (eds.) New Essays on the Origin of Language. Number 133 in Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin - New York (2001)
Cucker, F., Smale, S., Zhou, D.X.: Modelling language evolution. In: Minett, J., Wang, W.S.Y. (eds.) Language Acquisition, Change and Emergence. City University of Hong Kong Press (2003)
Davidson, J.: Genetic exchange between bacteria in the environment. Plasmid 42, 73–91 (1999)
Deacon, T.: The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain. W. W. Norton and Co (1997)
Drummond, C.: Accelerating reinforcement learning by composing solutions of automatically identified subtasks. Journal of Artificial Intelligence 16, 59–104 (2002)
Dunbar, R.I.M.: Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language. Faber and Faber (1997)
Franks, N.R., Pratt, S.C., Mallon, E.B., Britton, N.F., Sumpter, D.J.T.: Information flow, opinion polling and collective intelligence in house-hunting social insects. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357, 1567–1584 (2002)
Gallese, V., Goldman, A.: Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-reading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2, 493–501 (1998)
Gärdenfors, P.: Cooperation and the evolution of symbolic communication. In: Oller, K., Griebel, U. (eds.) Evolution of Communicative Systems: A Comparative Approach, pp. 237–256. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA (2004)
Gärdenfors, P., Osvath, M.: The evolution of anticipatory cognition as a precursor to symbolic communication. In: Proceedings of the Morris Symposium on the Evolution of Language, Stony Brook, NY, USA (2005)
Hammer, M., Menzel, R.: Learning and memory in the honeybee. The Journal of Neuroscience 15, 1617–1630 (1995)
Hauser, M.D., Chomsky, N., Fitch, W.T.: The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science 298, 1569–1579 (2002)
Hockett, C.F.: The origin of speech. Scientific American 203, 88–96 (1960)
Hurford, J.: The evolution of language and languages. In: Dunbar, R., Knight, C., Power, C.(eds.): The Evolution of Culture, pp. 173–193. Edinburgh University Press, (1999)
Jackendoff, R.: Possible stages in the evolution of the language capacity. Trends in Cognitive Science 3, 272–279 (1999)
Johansson, S.: Why Did Language Evolve? In: Origins of Language: Constraints on Hypotheses, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia (2005)
Johansson, S.: Protolanguage. In: Origins of Language: Constraints on Hypotheses, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia (2005)
Kendon, A.: Some considerations for a theory of language origins. Man, New Series 26, 199–221 (1991)
Komarova, N.L.: Replicator-mutator equation, universality property and population dynamics of learning. Journal of Theoretical Biology 230, 227–239 (2004)
McGovern, A., Barto, A.G.: Automatic discovery of subgoals in reinforcement learning using diverse density. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Machine Learning (2001)
Nowak, M.A., Plotkin, J.B., Jansen, V.A.A.: The evolution of syntactic commmunication. Nature 404, 495–498 (2000)
Pinker, S., Bloom, P.: Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13, 707–784 (1990)
Pinker, S., Jackendoff, R.: The faculty of language: What’s special about it? Cognition 95, 201–236 (2005)
Reading, N.C., Sperandio, V.: Quorum sensing: The many languages of bacteria. FEMS Microbiology Letters 254, 1–11 (2006)
Rizzolatti, G., Arbib, M.A.: Language within our grasp. Trends in Neurosciences 21, 188–194 (1998)
Rizzolatti, G., Camarda, R., Fogassi, L., Gentilucci, M., Lupino, G., Matelli, M.: Functional organization of inferior area 6 in the macaque monkey. ii. area f5 and the control of distal movements. Experimental Brain Research 71, 491–507 (1988)
Rosen, R.: Anticipatory Systems. Pergamon Press, New York (1985)
Roy, D.: Grounding words in perception and action: Computational insights. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9, 389–396 (2005)
Savage-Rumbaugh, S., Rumbaugh, D.M., McDonald, K.: Language learning in two species of apes. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 9, 653–665 (1985)
Seyfarth, R.M., Cheney, D.L.: Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: Evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science 210, 801–803 (1980)
Smith, J.M., Szathmáry, E.: The Major Transitions in Evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (1995)
Smith, K., Kirby, S., Brighton, H.: Iterated learning: A framework for the emergence of language. Artificial Life 9, 371–386 (2003)
Steels, L.: The recruitment theory of language origins. In: Proceedings of the Alice, V. Morris, D.H.: International Symposium on Language and Cognition: The Evolution of Language, SUNY Stony Brook (2005)
Steels, L., Kaplan, F.: Collective learning and semiotic dynamics. In: Floreano, D., Mondada, F. (eds.) ECAL 1999. LNCS, vol. 1674, pp. 679–688. Springer, Heidelberg (1999)
Sutton, R., Precup, D., Singh, S.: Between MDPs and semi- MDPs: A framework for temporal abstraction in reinforcement learning. Artificial Intelligence 112, 181–211 (1999)
Sutton, R.S., Barto, A.G.: Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction. MIT Press, Cambridge (1998)
Swarup, S., Mahmud, M.M.H., Lakkaraju, K., Ray, S.R.: Cumulative learning: Towards designing cognitive architectures for artificial agents that have a lifetime. Technical Report UIUCDCS-R-2005-2514, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2005)
Taddeo, M., Floridi, L.: Solving the symbol grounding problem: a critical review of fifteen years of research. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 17, 419–445 (2005)
Tuci, E., Ampatzis, C., Vicentini, F., Dorigo, M.: Operational aspects of the evolved signalling behavior in a group of cooperating and communicating robots. In: Vogt, P., Sugita, Y., Tuci, E., Nehaniv, C.L. (eds.) EELC 2006. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4211, pp. 113–127. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Vilalta, R., Drissi, Y.: A perspective view and survey of meta-learning. Artificial Intelligence Review 18, 77–95 (2002)
Vogt, P.: Language evolution and robotics: Issues in symbol grounding and language acquisition. In: Loula, A., Gudwin, R., Queiroz, J. (eds.): Artificial Cognition Systems. Idea Group (2006)
Wagner, K., Reggia, J., Uriagereka, J., Wilkinson, G.: Progress in the simulation of emergent communication and language. Adaptive Behavior 11, 37–69 (2003)
Werner, G.M., Dyer, M.G.: Evolution of communication in artificial organisms. In: Langton, C.G., Taylor, C., Farmer, J.D., Rasmussen, S. (eds.) Artificial Life II, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass (1991)
Worden, R.: The evolution of language from social intelligence. In: Hurford, J.R., Studdert-Kennedy, M., Knight, C. (eds.) Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1998)
Zlatev, J., Persson, T., Gärdenfors, P.: Bodily mimesis as ” the missing link” in human cognitive evolution. Technical Report LUCS121, Lund University Cognitive Science, Lund, Sweden (2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Swarup, S., Gasser, L. (2007). The Role of Anticipation in the Emergence of Language. In: Butz, M.V., Sigaud, O., Pezzulo, G., Baldassarre, G. (eds) Anticipatory Behavior in Adaptive Learning Systems. ABiALS 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 4520. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74262-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74262-3_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-74261-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-74262-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)