The evolution of languageстатья из журнала
Аннотация: The emergence of language was a defining moment in the evolution of modern humans. It was an innovation that changed radically the character of human society. Here, we provide an approach to language evolution based on evolutionary game theory. We explore the ways in which protolanguages can evolve in a nonlinguistic society and how specific signals can become associated with specific objects. We assume that early in the evolution of language, errors in signaling and perception would be common. We model the probability of misunderstanding a signal and show that this limits the number of objects that can be described by a protolanguage. This “error limit” is not overcome by employing more sounds but by combining a small set of more easily distinguishable sounds into words. The process of “word formation” enables a language to encode an essentially unlimited number of objects. Next, we analyze how words can be combined into sentences and specify the conditions for the evolution of very simple grammatical rules. We argue that grammar originated as a simplified rule system that evolved by natural selection to reduce mistakes in communication. Our theory provides a systematic approach for thinking about the origin and evolution of human language.
Год издания: 1999
Авторы: Martin A. Nowak, David C. Krakauer
Издательство: National Academy of Sciences
Источник: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Ключевые слова: Language and cultural evolution, Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation, Origins and Evolution of Life
Другие ссылки: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (HTML)
PubMed Central (HTML)
PubMed (HTML)
PubMed Central (HTML)
PubMed (HTML)
Открытый доступ: green
Том: 96
Выпуск: 14
Страницы: 8028–8033