A Social Approach to Rule Dynamics Using an Agent-Based Model
Authored by Christine Cuskley, Vittorio Loreto, Simon Kirby
Date Published: 2018
DOI: 10.1111/tops.12327
Sponsors:
No sponsors listed
Platforms:
C++
Model Documentation:
Flow charts
Model Code URLs:
https://github.com/CCuskley/RuleEmergence
Abstract
A well-trod debate at the nexus of cognitive science and linguistics,
the so-called past tense debate, has examined how rules and exceptions
are individually acquired (McClelland \& Patterson, ; Pinker \& Ullman,
). However, this debate focuses primarily on individual mechanisms in
learning, saying little about how rules and exceptions function from a
sociolinguistic perspective. To remedy this, we use agent-based models
to examine how rules and exceptions function across populations. We
expand on earlier work by considering how repeated interaction and
cultural transmission across speakers affects the dynamics of rules and
exceptions in language, measuring linguistic outcomes within a social
system rather than focusing individual learning outcomes. We consider
how population turnover and growth effect linguistic rule dynamics in
large and small populations, showing that this method has considerable
potential particularly in probing the mechanisms underlying the
linguistic niche hypothesis (Lupyan \& Dale, ).
Cuskley, Loreto \& Kirby (2018) explore how the diversity of social
groups influences the linguistic system. Using agent-based modelling for
simulating language evolution in a concentrated time frame, they suggest
that the morphology of languages (e.g. the plural -s or past tense -ed
in English) used in larger groups including more non-native speakers is
less complex.
Tags
Agent-based modeling
regularity
Rules
Population size
Linguistics
Population growth
Languages