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This paper addresses the emergence of a common phonetic code in a society of communicating speech agents using evolutionary
techniques. Predictions for the large vowel systems of the world’s languages using the Maximum Use of Available distinctive
Features (MUAF) principle are discussed. Simulations of the use of supplementary phonetic features in...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... te configurati on de poi ntsdansl ' esp ace à tro isdi me n s i ons a am ené l' au teu r à proposer l' hypothèse du cône tronqué.Selon cettehypot hèse,l' espace percepti fà t ro is di me n s i ons possède une form e de cône tronqué (cf. figure IV. 23).L a nasali sati on peut ainsiêtre interp rété ec o mmeun edi re cti on opti onnell eper m et tantà l ' esp ace v o cali que de s' éten d re,to ute nma i nten an t u n con tra stepe r c e pt i fsuf fisantl orsque l enombr ede voyell es croît. ...
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Citations
... Models that study the emergence of such repertoires have focused on vowel inventories, and on a role for self-organization in shaping them (Glotin 1995;Berrah & Laboissière 1999;de Boer 2000a;Oudeyer 2005), given constraints on the vowel space formalised by existing models of vowel perception and production. This group of models is a good example of model parallelization: different models making different simplifications modelling the same phenomenon. ...
Cambridge Core - Research Methods in Linguistics - edited by Robert J. Podesva
... Models that study the emergence of such repertoires have focused on vowel inventories, and on a role for self-organization in shaping them (Glotin 1995;Berrah & Laboissière 1999;de Boer 2000a;Oudeyer 2005), given constraints on the vowel space formalised by existing models of vowel perception and production. This group of models is a good example of model parallelization: different models making different simplifications modelling the same phenomenon. ...
Research Methods in Linguistics - edited by Robert J. Podesva January 2014
... It is possible that feature economy is the result of cultural processes, but it is equally possible that it is the result of a cognitive bias. Lending support to the interpretation of feature economy as the result of self-organization are the computer simulation results of Berrah and Laboissière (1999). These show emergent economic use of features in a population of simulated agents that have to communicate as effectively as possible. ...
The question of complexity, as in what makes one language more 'complex' than another, is a long-established topic of debate amongst linguists. Recently, this issue has been complemented with the view that languages are complex adaptive systems, in which emergence and self-organization play major roles. However, few students of the phenomenon have gone beyond the basic assessment of the number of units and rules in a language (what has been characterized as 'bit complexity') or shown some familiarity with the science of complexity. This book reveals how much can be learned by overcoming these limitations, especially by adopting developmental and evolutionary perspectives. The contributors include specialists of language acquisition, evolution and ecology, grammaticization, phonology, and modeling, all of whom approach languages as dynamical, emergent, and adaptive complex systems.
... Schwartz, Boë, Vallée and Abry (1997) have also used a more sophisticated distance function and managed to explain larger vowel systems. Berrah and Laboissière (1999) have looked at combining maximization of acoustic distinctiveness with maximum use of available features (Ohala, 1980) and were able to explain more complex vowel systems that make use of extra features such as length and nasalization. Lindblom, MacNeilage and Studdert--Kennedy (1984) have described a more complicated model that takes into account both acoustic and articulatory factors in order to explain simple syllable systems. ...
This paper reviews the importance of the interaction between cultural evolution, biological evolution and individual cognition in understanding the cognitive nature of speech sound systems. Because of the effect of cultural evolution, typological properties of languages do not reflect individual cognitive mechanisms directly. In addition, the interaction between cultural evolution and biological evolution deeply influences what kind of cognitive adaptations to speech can evolve.Theoretical work and computer simulation have shown that at least two kinds of adaptations to speech and language can evolve. One consists of weak biases to discrete features of language (such as word order) that convey a functional advantage. The other consists of stronger adaptations involving continuous traits in which language and biology can co-evolve (the vocal tract being a possible example of such a co-evolved adaptation). Experimental work is underway to identify how exactly cultural and biological evolution interact in human speech and language, and what cognitive mechanisms (if any) may have undergone selective pressure related to speech and language.The paper reviews a number of studies that take the evolutionary perspective, focusing notably on agent-based computer simulations and on experimental work that simulates evolution in the laboratory or experimental work that investigates the interaction between individual learning behavior and cultural transmission directly. The paper argues that taking the evolutionary perspective (both cultural and biological, as well as their interaction) into account is necessary for a full understanding of the cognitive nature of language and speech.
... Models that study the emergence of such repertoires have focused on vowel inventories, and on a role for self-organization in shaping them (Glotin, 1995;Berrah & Laboissière, 1999;de Boer, 2000a;Oudeyer, 2005), given constraints on the vowel space formalised by existing models of vowel perception and production. This group of models is a good example of model parallelization: different models all show the emergence of similar phenomena. ...
... Let us mention however three relevant precursor works dealing with the emergence of a phonetic code, generally limited to vowels. Glotin, Berrah and colleagues (Berrah, 1999) proposed the first studies involving communicating sensori-motor agents. In the interaction paradigm they considered, agents attempt to converge towards a coherent acoustic code through an attraction-repulsion process involving vocalic items. ...
... However, the relation between the repertoire of speech sounds that emerges in a population and the anatomical and neurocognitive features of individuals is far from trivial. Models that study the emergence of such repertoires have focused on vowel inventories , and on a role for self-organization in shaping them (Glotin, 1995; Berrah & Laboissière, 1999; de Boer, 2000a; Oudeyer, 2005), given constraints on the vowel space formalised by existing models of vowel perception and production. This group of models is a good example of model parallelization: different models all show the emergence of similar phenomena. ...
... However, the relation between the repertoire of speech sounds that emerges in a population and the anatomical and neurocognitive features of individuals is far from trivial. Models that study the emergence of such repertoires have focused on vowel inventories , and on a role for self-organization in shaping them (Glotin, 1995; Berrah & Laboissière, 1999; de Boer, 2000a; Oudeyer, 2005), given constraints on the vowel space formalised by existing models of vowel perception and production. This group of models is a good example of model parallelization: different models all show the emergence of similar phenomena. ...
... However, all aspects of language have been investigated. The earliest work mentioning self-organisation has focused on sound systems (Lindblom et al. 1984) and more recently new work has appeared on this subject (Berrah et al. 1996;Berrah and Laboissière 1999;de Boer 1997de Boer , 2000Demolin and Soquet 1999;Nicolis et al. 2000;Oudeyer 2001;Redford et al. 2001). Lexicon formation has received a lot of attention as well (e.g. ...
Definition of self-organisation Many papers that describe processes resembling self-organisation according to the definition used here do not explicitly use the term ‘self-organisation’. Instead terms like ‘emergent behaviour’, ‘population dynamics’, ‘bifurcations’, ‘catastrophes’ and others are used. In this chapter, such work will be subsumed under self-organisation. There might be slight differences in the phenomena that are described, but the basic ideas are the same, and an overview of this kind of work would be incomplete if attention was focused on only those papers that contain the term self-organisation. Another reason why the term self-organisation is not used more frequently might be that the term itself is ill-defined. Different authors use different interpretations of the term. A selection of linguistic papers with self-organisation in the title (Lindblom et al., 1984; Wildgen, 1990; Steels, 1995; Ehala, 1996; Demolin and Soquet, 1999; de Boer, 2000; Nicolis et al., 2000) all have a slightly different view on what it is and what role it plays. Further, the term self-organisation might not be popular among linguists, because it has the negative connotation of being vague. It is therefore useful and instructive to study in some more depth the definition of self-organisation used here. Self-organisation, according to this definition is ‘The emergence of order on a global scale through interactions on a local scale.’ The definition assumes there is a system that has two main components: actors1 and interactions.
... These agents learned by hearing the speaker's vowel, trying to reproduce it, and using feedback from the speaker to modify their own production. However, agents do not necessarily have to rely on the speaker for feedback, as shown by Berrah and Laboissière (1999). In this simulation, agents modified a vowel sound until it was close enough to the vowel sound they had heard. ...
... work has addressed continuous inputs and discrete behavior (Ryan et al., 2001). Since human utterances have hierarchical, discrete structures (morphemes/syllables composing words, words composing phrases) (Jannedy, Poletto, & Weldon, 1994), the problem is even more complex and this issue remains mostly untouched by simulations (but see de Boer & Vogt, 1999;Dircks & Stoness, 1999;Berrah & Laboissière, 1999;Steels & Oudeyer, 2000). ...
... Tribal and other social structures can affect how broad the transmission of linguistic features will be (Steele, 1994), even if their contribution to fitness is zero or negative. Linguistic constraints, as opposed to ecological fitness, may affect the acquisition of certain features of a language (Kirby, 1998;Berrah & Laboissière, 1999). These constraints have been proposed to account for the acquisition of various grammatical features that may not have obvious fitness benefits (Kirby & Hurford, 1997;Kirby, 1998). ...
This article reviews recent progress made by computational studies investigating the emergence, via learning or evolutionary mechanisms, of communication among a collection of agents. This work spans issues related to animal communication and the origins and evolution of language. The studies reviewed show how population size, spatial constraints on agent interactions, and the tasks involved can all influence the nature of the communication systems and the ease with which they are learned and/or evolved. Although progress in this area has been substantial, we are able to identify some important areas for future research in the evolution of language, including the need for further computational investigation of key aspects of language such as open vocabulary and the more complex aspects of syntax.
