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Article published In: Interaction and Iconicity in the Evolution of Language:
Edited by Stefan Hartmann, Michael Pleyer, James Winters and Jordan Zlatev
[Interaction Studies 18:3] 2017
► pp. 402–442

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Conversation, cognition and cultural evolution

A model of the cultural evolution of word order through pressures imposed from turn taking in conversation

 | University of Bristol | Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics |
 | Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics | Radboud University |
Published online: 8 December 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18.3.06rob
This paper outlines a first attempt to model the special constraints that arise in language processing in conversation, and to explore the implications such functional considerations may have on language typology and language change. In particular, we focus on processing pressures imposed by conversational turn-taking and their consequences for the cultural evolution of the structural properties of language. We present an agent-based model of cultural evolution where agents take turns at talk in conversation. When the start of planning for the next turn is constrained by the position of the verb, the stable distribution of dominant word orders across languages evolves to match the actual distribution reasonably well. We suggest that the interface of cognition and interaction should be a more central part of the story of language evolution.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1A cognitive pressure derived from turn taking
    • 1.2Linking processing and pragmatics
  • 2.Identifying the target phenomenon
  • 3.A computational agent based model of turn taking
    • 3.1Cultural evolution
    • 3.2Sentence particles
    • 3.3Summary of assumptions
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Sentence final particles
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Relationship with other theories and future work
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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