Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:19:25 BST CiteULike: briordan language-evolution http://www.citeulike.org/user/briordan/tag/language-evolution CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/briordan/article/2859915 <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (3 June 2008), 0802485105.</i><br /><br />Categories provide a coarse-grained description of the world. A fundamental question is whether categories simply mirror an underlying structure of nature or instead come from the complex interactions of human beings among themselves and with the environment. Here, we address this question by modeling a population of individuals who co-evolve their own system of symbols and meanings by playing elementary language games. The central result is the emergence of a hierarchical category structure made of two distinct levels: a basic layer, responsible for fine discrimination of the environment, and a shared linguistic layer that groups together perceptions to guarantee communicative success. Remarkably, the number of linguistic categories turns out to be finite and small, as observed in natural languages. 10.1073/pnas.0802485105 Cultural route to the emergence of linguistic categories Andrea Puglisi Andrea Baronchelli Vittorio Loreto doi:10.1073/pnas.0802485105 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (3 June 2008), 0802485105. 2008-06-03T20:48:15-00:00 2008 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 0802485105 language-evolution models http://www.citeulike.org/user/briordan/article/2316678 <i>Science, Vol. 319, No. 5863. (1 February 2008), 588.</i><br /><br />Linguists speculate that human languages often evolve in rapid or punctuational bursts, sometimes associated with their emergence from other languages, but this phenomenon has never been demonstrated. We used vocabulary data from three of the world's major language groupsBantu, Indo-European, and Austronesianto show that 10 to 33% of the overall vocabulary differences among these languages arose from rapid bursts of change associated with language-splitting events. Our findings identify a general tendency for increased rates of linguistic evolution in fledgling languages, perhaps arising from a linguistic founder effect or a desire to establish a distinct social identity. 10.1126/science.1149683 Languages Evolve in Punctuational Bursts Quentin Atkinson Andrew Meade Chris Venditti Simon Greenhill Mark Pagel doi:10.1126/science.1149683 Science, Vol. 319, No. 5863. (1 February 2008), 588. 2008-01-31T22:21:21-00:00 2008 Science 319 5863 588 language-evolution http://www.citeulike.org/user/briordan/article/1752566 <i>Nature, Vol. 449, No. 7163. (11 October 2007), pp. 717-720.</i> Frequency of word-use predicts rates of lexical evolution throughout Indo-European history Mark Pagel Quentin Atkinson Andrew Meade doi:10.1038/nature06176 Nature, Vol. 449, No. 7163. (11 October 2007), pp. 717-720. 2007-10-10T22:46:12-00:00 2007 Nature 449 7163 717 720 language-evolution models http://www.citeulike.org/user/briordan/article/1752368 <i>Nature, Vol. 449, No. 7163. (11 October 2007), pp. 713-716.</i> Quantifying the evolutionary dynamics of language Erez Lieberman Jean-Baptiste Michel Joe Jackson Tina Tang Martin Nowak doi:10.1038/nature06137 Nature, Vol. 449, No. 7163. (11 October 2007), pp. 713-716. 2007-10-10T22:28:15-00:00 2007 Nature 449 7163 713 716 language-evolution models http://www.citeulike.org/user/briordan/article/1752553 <i>Nature, Vol. 449, No. 7163. (11 October 2007), pp. 665-667.</i> Linguistics: An invisible hand Tecumseh Fitch doi:10.1038/449665a Nature, Vol. 449, No. 7163. (11 October 2007), pp. 665-667. 2007-10-10T22:42:41-00:00 2007 Nature 449 7163 665 667 language-evolution models