Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T20:54:11.223Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Language as an emergent group-level trait

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2014

Lan Shuai
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218. [email protected]://www.ece-jhu.org/
Tao Gong
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. [email protected]://www.linguistics.hku.hk/

Abstract

Following Smaldino's definition, we claim that language is also an emergent group-level trait, and propose two facets (human groups tend to organize in a way to efficiently trigger language and linguistic interactions can render formation of certain social organization) to verify this statement, both of which also provide a general framework to address the future work about group-level traits.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barabási, A. L. (1999) Mean-field theory for scale-free. Physica A 2(72):172–82.Google Scholar
Baronchelli, A., Cattuto, C., Loreto, V. & Puglisi, A. (2009) Complex systems approach to the emergence of language. In: Language, evolution, and the brain, ed. Minett, J. W. & Wang, W. S-Y., pp. 141–78. City University of Hong Kong Press.Google Scholar
Baronchelli, A., Felici, M., Loreto, V., Caglioti, E. & Steels, L. (2006) Sharp transition towards shared vocabularies in multi-agent systems. Journal of Statistical Mechanics P06014. Available at: http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-5468/2006/06/P06014/ CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dall'Asta, L., Baronchelli, A., Barrat, A. & Loreto, V. (2006) Non-equalibrium dynamics of language games on complex networks. Physical Review E 74:036105. Available at: http://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.74.036105 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gong, T. (2009) Computational simulation in evolutionary linguistics: A study on language emergence. Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Gong, T. (2010) Exploring the roles of horizontal, vertical, and oblique transmissions in language evolution. Adaptive Behavior 18 (3–4):356–76.Google Scholar
Gong, T. (2011) Simulating the coevolution of compositionality and word order regularity. Interaction Studies 12(1):63106.Google Scholar
Gong, T., Baronchelli, A., Puglisi, A. & Loreto, V. (2012a) Exploring the roles of complex networks in linguistic categorization. Artificial Life 18(1):107–21.Google Scholar
Gong, T., Shuai, L., Tamariz, M. & Jäger, G. (2012b) Studying language change using Price equation and Pόlya-urn dynamics. PLoS ONE 7(3):e33171.Google Scholar
Newman, M. E. J. (2003) The structure and function of complex networks. SIAM Review 45:167256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puglisi, A., Baronchelli, A. & Loreto, V. (2008) Cultural route to the emergence of linguistic categories. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 105(23):7936–40.Google Scholar
Watts, D. J. (1999) Small worlds. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar