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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion

Grice in the Grammar: How Dynamic Social Networks Give Rise to Honesty and Evidentials

GURT 2014 Christopher Ahern

University of Pennsylvania

March 16, 2014

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion

[Grice(1975)]

Maxim of Quality

Try to make your contribution one that is true:

1

Do not say what you believe to be false.

2

Do not say that for which you lack evidence.

Cooperative Principle

Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purposes or direction of the talk exchange.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion

[Grice(1975)]

I am, however, enough of a rationalist to want to find a basis that underlies these facts, undeniable though they may be; I would like to be able to think of the standard type of conversational practice not merely as something that all or most do in fact follow but as something that it is reasonable for us to follow, that we should not abandon.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion

Questions

Why abide by the Maxim of Quality and the Cooperative Principle? What consequences for the structure of language?

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion

Outline

1

Honesty

2

Networks

3

Language

4

Conclusion

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Cooperation

[Nowak(2006)]

Cooperation means that selfish replicators forgo some of their reproductive potential to help one another. But natural selection implies competition and therefore

• pposes cooperation unless a specific

mechanism is at work.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Cooperation

Prisoner’s Dilemma

Cooperate Defect Cooperate b−c, b−c −c, b Defect b, −c 0,0

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Cooperation

Prisoner’s Dilemma

Cooperate Defect Cooperate 5, 5 −5, 10 Defect 10, −5 0,0

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Signaling

[Searcy and Nowicki(2005)]

One might expect many instances in which signalers would attempt to profit individually by conveying dishonest information. ...if dishonesty is common, it also is not

• bvious why receivers should respond to

signals. ...if receivers fail to respond to signals, it is not obvious how signaling systems can exist at all.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Mechanisms

[Mencken(1949)]

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Mechanisms

[Scott-Phillips(2008)]

1

Indices: signal form is tied to meaning

2

Handicaps: costs borne by honest senders

3

Deterrents: costs borne by dishonest senders

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Mechanisms

[Reby and McComb(2003)]

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Mechanisms

[Zahavi(1975)] [Grafen(1990)] [Spence(1973)]

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations

Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma

1

Each agent has rate of cooperation, θ ∈ [0,1]

2

Agents interact, update strength

• f relationship

3

Relationships below threshold are removed

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations

Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations

[Apicella et al.(2012)Apicella, Marlowe, Fowler, and Christakis]

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations

[Apicella et al.(2012)Apicella, Marlowe, Fowler, and Christakis]

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations

Iterated Information Sharing

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations

Iterated Information Sharing

1

Agents have information about state of the world, τ ∈ [0,1]

2

Agents choose to share information, θ ∈ [0,1]

3

Agents update strength of relationship according to reliability

4

Relationships below threshold are removed

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations

Iterated Information Sharing

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Again

[Grice(1975)]

Maxim of Quality

Try to make your contribution one that is true:

1

Do not say what you believe to be false.

2

Do not say that for which you lack evidence.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Again

[Grice(1975)]

Cooperative Principle

Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purposes or direction of the talk exchange.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Division

[Lakoff(1973)]

Hedging

A robin is sort of a bird. A penguin is sort of a bird. A bat is sort of a bird. A cow is sort of a bird.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Division

[Davis et al.(2007)Davis, Potts, and Speas]

Quality Threshold [Potts(2007)]

An utterance U by speaker S in context C satisfies quality iff its quality rating, µC(U), is above the quality threshold Cτ for C.

Evidentials, Modals, Hedges

Speakers can signal quality threshold they expect an utterance to be evaluated by. Conventionally implicate commitment to some different quality threshold Cτ′.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Division

[Horn(1984)]

Division of Pragmatic Labor

Unmarked form associated with more frequent meaning Marked form associated with less frequent meaning

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Evidentials

WALS [Dryer and Haspelmath(2013)]

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Evidentials

WALS [Dryer and Haspelmath(2013)]

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Questions

Questions

Why abide by the Maxim of Quality and the Cooperative Principle?

Maintenance of relationships and standing Still allows room for varying thresholds

What consequences for the structure of language?

Pragmatic pressures shape linguistic structure Yesterday’s pragmatics is today’s morphosyntax!

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions

Future Directions

Theoretical

Richer notions of interactions Broader definition of information

Empirical

Controlled testing of use Cross-linguistic comparisons

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions

Thanks!

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions

Bibliography I

Coren L. Apicella, Frank W. Marlowe, James H. Fowler, and Nicholas A. Christakis. Social networks and cooperation in hunter-gatherers. Nature, 481(7382):497–501, 2012. Christopher Davis, Christopher Potts, and Margaret Speas. The pragmatic values of evidential sentences. In Proceedings of SALT, volume 17, pages 71–88, 2007. Matthew S. Dryer and Martin Haspelmath, editors. WALS Online. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, 2013. URL http://wals.info/.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions

Bibliography II

• A. Grafen.

Biological signals as handicaps. Journal of theoretical biology, 144(4):517–546, 1990. H.P. Grice. Logic and conversation. In Studies in the Way of Words, pages 22–40. Harvard University Press, 1975.

• L. Horn.

Towards a new taxonomy for pragmatic inference: Q-based and R-based implicature. In D. Schiffrin, editor, Meaning, form, and use in context, volume 42, pages 11–42. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1984.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions

Bibliography III

• G. Lakoff.

Hedges: A study in meaning criteria and the logic of fuzzy concepts. Journal of philosophical logic, 2(4):458–508, 1973. H.L. Mencken. A Mencken Chrestomathy. Vintage, 1949. Martin A. Nowak. Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation. Science, 314(5805):1560–1563, 2006.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions

Bibliography IV

Christopher Potts. Conversational implicatures via general pragmatic pressures. In New Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, pages 205–218. Springer, 2007.

• D. Reby and K. McComb.

Anatomical constraints generate honesty: acoustic cues to age and weight in the roars of red deer stags. Animal behaviour, 65(3):519–530, 2003.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions

Bibliography V

T.C. Scott-Phillips. On the correct application of animal signalling theory to human communication. In A. D. M. Smith, K. Smith, and R. Ferrer i Cancho, editors, The evolution of language: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference

• n the Evolution of Language, pages 275–282, Singapore, 2008. World

Scientific Press. William A. Searcy and Stephen Nowicki. The Evolution of Animal Communication: Reliability and Deception in Signaling Systems. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2005.

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Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions

Bibliography VI

• M. Spence.

Job market signaling. The quarterly journal of Economics, 87(3):355–374, 1973.

• A. Zahavi.

Mate selection–a selection for a handicap. Journal of theoretical Biology, 53(1):205–214, 1975.

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