Article published in:
Experiments in Cultural Language EvolutionEdited by Luc Steels
[Advances in Interaction Studies 3] 2012
► pp. 207–232
Emergent functional grammar for space
Michael Spranger | Sony Computer Science
Laboratory Paris
Luc Steels | Vrije Universiteit Brussel
This chapter explores a semantics-oriented approach to the origins of syntactic structure.
It reports on preliminary experiments whereby speakers introduce hierarchical constructions and
grammatical markers to express which
conceptualization strategy hearers are supposed to invoke. This grammatical information
helps hearers to avoid semantic ambiguity or errors in interpretation. A simulation study is performed
for spatial grammar using robotic agents that play language games about objects in their shared world.
The chapter uses a reconstruction of a fragment of German spatial language to identify the niche
of spatial grammar, and then reports
on acquisition and formation experiments in which agents seeded with a `pidgin German'
without grammar are made to interact until rudiments of hierarchical structure and grammatical marking emerge.
Published online: 23 February 2012
https://doi.org/10.1075/ais.3.11spr
https://doi.org/10.1075/ais.3.11spr
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