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Authoritative: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01250-1_6   (Publisher's PDF... likely be available here.)

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Abstract

The evolution of human language allowed the efficient propagation of nongenetic information, thus creating a new form of evolutionary change. Language development in children offers the opportunity of exploring the emergence of such complex communication system and provides a window to understanding the transition from protolanguage to language. Here we present the first analysis of the emergence of syntax in terms of complex networks. A previously unreported, sharp transition is shown to occur around two years of age from a (pre-syntactic) tree-like structure to a scale-free, small world syntax network. The observed combinatorial patterns provide valuable data to understand the nature of the cognitive processes involved in the acquisition of syntax, introducing a new ingredient to understand the possible biological endowment of human beings which results in the emergence of complex language. We explore this problem by using a minimal, data-driven model that is able to capture several statistical traits, but some key features related to the emergence of syntactic complexity display important divergences.

@incollection{murtra10bookCh6,
  author={Bernat Corominas-Murtra and Sergi Valverde and Ricard V. Sole},
  title={Emergence of Scale-Free Syntax Networks},
  year={2010},
  pages={83-101},
  publisher={Springer Verlag},
  booktitle={Evolution of Communication and Language in Embodied Agents},
  doi={10.1007/978-3-642-01250-1_6},
  url={http://groups.lis.illinois.edu/amag/langev/paper/murtra10bookCh6.html}
}