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Paper at a Glance

Learners are losers: Natural selection and
learning in the evolution of communication
Kenneth Smith
Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit
Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics
University of Edinburgh
kenny@ling.ed.ac.uk
Phone: +44 131 650 6657
Fax: +44 131 650 3962
1ST DRAFT OF PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE PROCEEDINGS
OF THE 3RD CONFERENCE ON THE EVOLUTION OF
LANGUAGE

Abstract Computational simulations of natural selection for communicative suc­ cess show that natural selection alone is capable of evolving optimal com­ munication systems. Simulations of the interactions between natural se­ lection and learning show that the biases of learners, when placed in the framework of iterated cultural transmission of communication systems, result in cultural selection of communication systems. This cultural se­ lection is the determining factor in the development of communication systems in the simulated populations, with natural selection being rele­ gated to a secondary role. This paper suggests that the role of cultural selection in the evolution of language should not be underestimated.
1  1 Introduction Language is transmitted from generation to generation within a speech com­ munity. This transmission process involves at least some cultural transmission ­ language learners, under normal circumstances, learn the language in use in their speech community. The most influential linguistic theories of modern times (Chomsky, 1965; Chomsky, 1980; Chomsky, 1981; Chomsky, 1987) assume an element of genetic transmission in addition to this cultural transmission ­ under the Chomskyan hypothesis, a genetically­encoded Language Acquisition Device is transmitted from generation to generation, with the cultural transmission of language being parasitic on this innate language faculty. The research outlined in this paper represents an attempt to understand the type of interactions which may occur between cultural transmission and ge­ netic transmission during the ...

@unpublished{smith00learnersAre,
  author={Kenny Smith},
  title={Learners are losers: Natural selection and learning in the evolution of communication},
  year={2000},
  note={},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/smith00learnersAre.html}
}

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