Models of Language Evolution Session 2: Protolanguage Roland - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Models of Language Evolution

Session 2: Protolanguage Roland Mühlenbernd 2014/10/29

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Organizational Matters

◮ literature and homework on moodle ◮ Hauptseminarschein: 80% of maximal homework score

plus graded work:

◮ presentation about latest research ◮ mini project: modeling and implementation (1-3 students) ◮ 1 student: modeling with short informal presentation ◮ 2 students: modeling + full presentation ◮ 3 students: modeling + full presentation + short article ◮ Note: SG (student’s grade) is determined by IG (individual

grade in the project) and PG (project grade)

◮

SG = 2 × IG + PG 3

◮ attendance required!! (one unexplained absence) ◮ please introduce yourself:

◮ name, bachelor/master student in X ◮ I am interested in the seminar, because... ◮ I plan a graded work as... about...

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Organizational Matters

◮ 22.10 Language Evolution - Overview ◮ 29.10 Language Evolution - Protolanguage ◮ 12.11 Models of Language Evolution ◮ 19.11 Evolutionary Game Theory ◮ 26.11 The Iterated Learning Model ◮ 03.12 Further Models ◮ 10.12 Students’ Presentations ◮ 17.12 Students’ Presentations ◮ 07.01 Students’ Presentations ◮ 14.01 Students’ Presentations ◮ 21.01 Students’ Presentations ◮ 28.01 Students’ Presentations ◮ 04.02 Recent Work ◮ 11.02 Recent Work

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Including and Excluding Issues

Including Issues

• 1. How did symbolic units evolve?
• 2. How did syntax evolve?
• 3. What was the initial selective pressure?
• 4. Was the development gradual or abrupt?
• 5. How did the development of phonology relate to 1) & 2)?
• 6. Did language begin with speech or sign?

Excluding Issues

◮ How did/do languages change/interact? (cultural

evolution)

◮ Did language begin in one place or several?

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Bickerton’s Concept of Protolanguage

Protolanguage

◮ is starting point of gradual process (instead of abrupt /

sudden steps) to fully developed modern language

◮ entails common nouns and verbs ◮ entails synthetic items that can be combined

VS holophrastic strings that get segmented

◮ has a limited vocabulary of simple items (words), but no

consistent structural properties

◮ does not have a sophisticated phonology ◮ involves a longish period between the emergence of

symbolic units and the emergence of syntax

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Punctuated Evolution of Human Language

According to the theory of “punctuated equilibrium”, most evolutionary change does not occur continuously within a lineage, but is confined to burst

• f change that are relatively brief on the geological

time scale, generally corresponding to speciation events, followed by long periods of stasis. Pinker and Bloom (1990) Note:

◮ Assuming that language evolution followed a progress that

includes “punctuated equilibria”, then we must expect different stages of communicative behavior / language use.

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Jackendoff’s Stages

Source: Jackendoff, R.(1999), Possible Stages in the Evolution of Language Capacity, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3.7, pp 272-279.

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

What is Protolanguage?

Jackendoff (1999)

◮ modern language minus syntax ◮ a still available feature in modern language ◮ ergo: look for ‘traces’ and ‘fossils’ in modern language

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Jackendoff’s Fossils

Name similarities and differences of the following words of human language: “hello” “shh” “yes!” “ouch”

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Jackendoff’s Stages

Source: Jackendoff, R.(1999), Possible Stages in the Evolution of Language Capacity, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3.7, pp 272-279.

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Kirby’s Questions

Kirby (2007)

◮ Structure: Why is language the way it is and not some

• ther way? How can an evolutionary approach explain the

particular language universals we observe?

◮ Uniqueness: Why are we unique in possessing language?

What is so special about humans?

◮ Function: How could language evolve? What were the

selective pressures involved?

◮ History: What is the evolutionary story for language?

When did it evolve? Were there intermediate stages?

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Structure/Uniqueness of Human Language

(a) Jack built the house that the malt that the rat that the cat killed ate lay in. (b) The cat killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Uniqueness: Comparative Approach

◮ Compare features of human language and human language

faculty with communication systems of other species

◮ Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch (2002):

◮ FLB: faculty of language in the broad sense

= all aspects of language faculty

◮ FLN: faculty of language in the narrow sense

= human-specific core computational system that e.g. enables to parse the following sentences in (a) and (b)

◮ FLN is limited to a mechanism implementing recursion

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Protolanguage

Kirby mentions Bickerton’s propose to look for living fossils of protolanguage, which can be found in three types of linguistic behavior:

• 1. Pidgin communication
• 2. Child language
• 3. Language of trained apes

All forms of linguistic behavior have some minimal structure: simple sentences whose meaning is composed of the words’ meanings.

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Kirby’s Iterated Learning

Non-trivial interaction of three dynamical systems:

From: Simon Kirby (2007) ”The Evolution of Language”

Roland Mühlenbernd Organizational Matters Protolanguage Outlook

Timescale of Literature

1990 Pinker & Bloom: language evolution theory 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Bickerton: PL-fossils in form of language behavior 1996 1997 1998 1999 Jackendoff: PL-fossils in instances of Human language 2000 2001 Simulating the Evolution of Language← ← ← ← ← ← 2002 Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch: FLN = FLB + recursion 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Bickerton: perspective from linguistics Kirby: perspective from LE-modelers