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Computational methods and grammars in language evolution: a survey

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Patrizia Grifoni at Italian National Research Council
Patrizia Grifoni
Arianna D'Ulizia at Italian National Research Council
Arianna D'Ulizia
Fernando Ferri at Italian National Research Council
Fernando Ferri
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Abstract and Figures

The interest in language evolution by various disciplines, such as linguistics, computer science, biology, etc., makes language evolution models an active research topic and many models have been defined in the last decade. In this work, an overview of computational methods and grammars in language evolution models is given. It aims to introduce readers to the main concepts and the current approaches in language evolution research. Some of the language evolution models, developed during the decade 2003–2012, have been described and classified considering both the grammatical representation (context-free, attribute, Christiansen, fluid construction, or universal grammar) and the computational methods (agent-based, evolutionary computation-based or game theoretic). Finally, an analysis of the surveyed models has been carried out to evaluate their possible extension towards multimodal language evolution.
Example of production rules of a CFG for a small fragment of English, as shown in D’Ulizia et al. (2011a)
Example of production rules of a CFG for a small fragment of English, as shown in D’Ulizia et al. (2011a)
… 
CGSs. Figure extracted from Jimenez-Lopez (2012) and reproduced with permission from Springer
CGSs. Figure extracted from Jimenez-Lopez (2012) and reproduced with permission from Springer
… 
The ILM proposed by Smith et al. (2003). Ai\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {A}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document} is a single agent who has linguistic competences Hi\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {H}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document}. Ai\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {A}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document} is prompted with a set of meanings Mi\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {M}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document} and produces a set of utterances Ui\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {U}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document}
The ILM proposed by Smith et al. (2003). Ai\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {A}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document} is a single agent who has linguistic competences Hi\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {H}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document}. Ai\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {A}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document} is prompted with a set of meanings Mi\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {M}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document} and produces a set of utterances Ui\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\hbox {U}_\mathrm{i}$$\end{document}
… 
Functioning of a genetic algorithm
Functioning of a genetic algorithm
… 
An example of grammar
An example of grammar
… 
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Artif Intell Rev (2016) 45:369–403
DOI 10.1007/s10462-015-9449-3
Computational methods and grammars in language
evolution: a survey
Patrizia Grifoni1·Arianna D’Ulizia1·Fernando Ferri1
Published online: 24 November 2015
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract The interest in language evolution by various disciplines, such as linguistics, com-
puter science, biology, etc., makes language evolution models an active research topic and
many models have been defined in the last decade. In this work, an overview of computa-
tional methods and grammars in language evolution models is given. It aims to introduce
readers to the main concepts and the current approaches in language evolution research.
Some of the language evolution models, developed during the decade 2003–2012, have
been described and classified considering both the grammatical representation (context-free,
attribute, Christiansen, fluid construction, or universal grammar) and the computational meth-
ods (agent-based, evolutionary computation-based or game theoretic). Finally, an analysis
of the surveyed models has been carried out to evaluate their possible extension towards
multimodal language evolution.
Keywords Language evolution ·Grammatical evolution ·Evolutionary computation ·
Agent-based models ·Natural language ·Multimodal language ·Game-theoretic models
1 Introduction
Human language continuously evolves under the influence of environmental and cultural fac-
tors. It is deeply related to evolutionary theory, as initially noticed by Darwin in The Descent
of Man (Darwin 1871), in which “curious parallels” were observed between the formation
and development of languages and species evolution. This means that both languages and
biological species change continuously and evolve following similar mechanisms, such as
transmission from parents to children, selection, and adaptation. This observation explains
the wide use of evolutionary concepts in language studies and the emergence of language
evolution as an established field of research. Language evolution is an interdisciplinary field
BFernando Ferri
fernando.ferri@irpps.cnr.it
1National Research Council, Rome, Italy
123
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... The characteristics of a language play a crucial role in shaping the research direction of language evolution. Specifically, the objective of the language evolution research is to understand when, where and how human languages emerged, changed and declined [3], with the research objects involving the meaning of language, grammar and other linguistic details [4][5][6]. ...
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... The high/low weight represents the rank of linguistic and cultural influence of the settlements, respectively. We initially set the four nodes numbered (4,4), (4,16), (16,4) and (16,16) as the high-level weighted nodes. The value of ψ is set to 4 and the duration of language evolution is set to 10,000 units of time. ...
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... Therefore, the goal of the paper is to analyze bibliographic production and scientific impact of these language evolution models and the future trends and perspectives of this research field. In this analysis, we adopt the classification of language evolution models proposed by Grifoni et al. [23] and based on the computational method (agent-based, evolutionary computation-based, and game-theoretic models) and the grammatical formalism (context-free grammar-based, attribute grammarbased, Christiansen grammar-based, fluid construction grammar-based, and universal grammar-based models). We extended the analysis for papers in the period 2001-2017, related to the models identified. ...
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