108 posts · 77,243 views
A blog (mostly) dedicated to language, its evolution and anything else in-between.
Wintz
23 posts
Sean Roberts
61 posts
Hannah Little
0 posts
Michael
10 posts
Richard Littauer
0 posts
Kevin
1 post
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- May 11, 2012
- 11:43 AM
- 167 views
Having more children affects your basic word order
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
The basic word order of your langauge (SOV or SVO) predicts the number of children you have.... Read more »
Sean Roberts, & James Winters. (2012) Constructing Knowledge: Nomothetic approaches to language evolution. Five Approaches to Language Evolution: Proceedings of the Workshops of the 9th International Conference on the Evolution of Language. info:/
Gell-Mann, M., & Ruhlen, M. (2011) The origin and evolution of word order. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(42), 17290-17295. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1113716108
- May 1, 2012
- 01:45 PM
- 127 views
Visualising language similarities without trees
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Gerhard Jäger uses lexostatistics to demonstrate that language similarities can be computed without using tree-based representations. On the way, he automatically derives a tree of phoneme similarity directly from word lists. The result is an alternative and intuitive look at how languages are related.... Read more »
Bakker, D., Müller, A., Velupillai, V., Wichmann, S., Brown, C., Brown, P., Egorov, D., Mailhammer, R., Grant, A., & Holman, E. (2009) Adding typology to lexicostatistics: A combined approach to language classification. Linguistic Typology, 13(1), 169-181. DOI: 10.1515/LITY.2009.009
- April 5, 2012
- 05:27 PM
- 139 views
The evolution of numeral classifier constructions
by Richard in A Replicated Typo 2.0
I went to a good talk almost a year ago at the Interfaces III conference at the University of Kent, and I said I’d write about it, but I never got around to it. The slides have been on my desktop ever since. Now that I have a couple hours to kill on the train [...]... Read more »
Vipas Pothipath. (2008) Typology and Evolution of Numeral-Noun Constructions. Unpublished PhD Thesis at the University of Edinburgh. info:/
- March 22, 2012
- 04:27 AM
- 222 views
The QHImp Qhallenge: Working memory in humans and Chimpanzees
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Is your memory better than a chimp's? Play our game and find out! We'll be analysing the data in real-time.... Read more »
Silberberg, A., & Kearns, D. (2008) Memory for the order of briefly presented numerals in humans as a function of practice. Animal Cognition, 12(2), 405-407. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-008-0206-8
Inoue, S., & Matsuzawa, T. (2007) Working memory of numerals in chimpanzees. Current Biology, 17(23). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.027
- March 21, 2012
- 04:28 AM
- 107 views
Evolang Coverage: Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini’s plenary talk
by bodo in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Post by Bodo Winter: Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini’s talk at this Evolang gave an impressively confident and forceful argument for linguistic nativism. The basic tenets of the Chomskyan view of language evolution were reiterated with some old and some new arguments along the way. Piattelli-Palmarini (P.P.) claimed that (1) language is modular and autonomous from other cognitive [...]... Read more »
Coates, M. (2003) Visual Ecology and Functional Morphology of Cubozoa (Cnidaria). Integrative and Comparative Biology, 43(4), 542-548. DOI: 10.1093/icb/43.4.542
Elman, J. (1991) Distributed representations, simple recurrent networks, and grammatical structure. Machine Learning, 7(2-3), 195-225. DOI: 10.1007/BF00114844
Garm, A., Ekström, P., Boudes, M., & Nilsson, D. (2006) Rhopalia are integrated parts of the central nervous system in box jellyfish. Cell and Tissue Research, 325(2), 333-343. DOI: 10.1007/s00441-005-0134-8
Ihlen, E., & Vereijken, B. (2010) Interaction-dominant dynamics in human cognition: Beyond 1/ƒα fluctuation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 139(3), 436-463. DOI: 10.1037/a0019098
Nilsson, D., Gislén, L., Coates, M., Skogh, C., & Garm, A. (2005) Advanced optics in a jellyfish eye. Nature, 435(7039), 201-205. DOI: 10.1038/nature03484
Palolahti, M., Leino, S., Jokela, M., Kopra, K., & Paavilainen, P. (2005) Event-related potentials suggest early interaction between syntax and semantics during on-line sentence comprehension. Neuroscience Letters, 384(3), 222-227. DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2005.04.076
- March 20, 2012
- 05:13 AM
- 200 views
Evolang coverage: More on linguistic replicators
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Monica Tamariz presented a poster at Evolang (runner up for the best poster award) about linguistic replicators. This is an alternative view to Andrew Smith's talk and Bill Benzon's post on the same subject. Below I've copied out sections of Tamariz's poster.... Read more »
Maye J, Werker JF, & Gerken L. (2002) Infant sensitivity to distributional information can affect phonetic discrimination. Cognition, 82(3). PMID: 11747867
- March 13, 2012
- 09:12 PM
- 215 views
So, what is it then, this Grammaticalization?
by Wintz in A Replicated Typo 2.0
A century ago Antoine Meillet, in his work L’évolution des Formes Grammaticales, coined the term grammaticalization to describe the process through which linguistic forms evolve from a lexical to a grammatical status. Even though knowledge of this process is found in earlier works by French and British philosophers (e.g. Condillac, 1746; Tooke, 1857), as well [...]... Read more »
Kurylowicz, J. (1965) The Evolution of Grammatical Categories. Diogenes, 13(51), 55-71. DOI: 10.1177/039219216501305105
- March 6, 2012
- 01:39 PM
- 273 views
Using tools from evolutionary biology in cultural evolution
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Levinson & Gray (2012) demonstrate how tools from evolutionary biology can help refine the way we look at human language and human cognition. Phylogenetic techniques allow researchers to properly control for the fact that languages are related by descent. More importantly, these tools allow the study of the full variation of linguistic structures, rather than assuming that the majority of linguistic structure is constrained by a limited set of Universal Grammar parameters. ... Read more »
Levinson, S., & Gray, R. (2012) Tools from evolutionary biology shed new light on the diversification of languages. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(3), 167-173. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2012.01.007
- February 29, 2012
- 09:31 AM
- 258 views
Cultural transmission in files
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Two recent papers demonstrate that cultural evolution can be studied in the common fly.... Read more »
Ruedi Stoop, Patrick Nüesch, Ralph Lukas Stoop, Leonid Bunimovich. (2012) Fly out-smarts man. Populations and Evolution. info:/1202.5913v1
Battesti, M., Moreno, C., Joly, D., & Mery, F. (2012) Spread of Social Information and Dynamics of Social Transmission within Drosophila Groups. Current Biology, 22(4), 309-313. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.12.050
- February 27, 2012
- 08:43 AM
- 265 views
Evolang previews: Holistic or synthetic protolanguage: evidence from iterated learning of whistled signals
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
In this talk we will present results of an iterated learning experiment about the emergence of structure in sets of whistle sounds produced with a slide whistle. We will link these results to the debate on the nature of human protolanguage.... Read more »
Kirby, S., Cornish, H., & Smith, K. (2008) Cumulative cultural evolution in the laboratory: An experimental approach to the origins of structure in human language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(31), 10681-10686. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0707835105
Tallerman, M. (2007) Did our ancestors speak a holistic protolanguage?. Lingua, 117(3), 579-604. DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2005.05.004
- February 22, 2012
- 08:14 AM
- 255 views
EvoLang Previews: A Bottom Up Approach to Language Evolution
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
First preview of presentations at this year's EvoLang. Here, I show that the tools you use to investigate the evolution of linguistic diversity affect the conclusions you reach.... Read more »
Abrams, D., & Strogatz, S. (2003) Linguistics: Modelling the dynamics of language death. Nature, 424(6951), 900-900. DOI: 10.1038/424900a
Burkett, D., & Griffiths, T. (2010) Iterated Learning of Multiple Languages from Multiple Teachers. The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of EvoLang 2010. info:/
- February 21, 2012
- 04:43 PM
- 284 views
Proving anything is possible: Limits of the nomothetic approach
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Preview of a poster we're presenting at Edinburgh's Digital Scholarship conference. It's increasingly easy to find correlations between social variables, so how do we identify the real links?... Read more »
Way, B., & Lieberman, M. (2010) Is there a genetic contribution to cultural differences? Collectivism, individualism and genetic markers of social sensitivity. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(2-3), 203-211. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq059
Atkinson QD. (2011) Phonemic diversity supports a serial founder effect model of language expansion from Africa. Science (New York, N.Y.), 332(6027), 346-9. PMID: 21493858
EMBER, C., & EMBER, M. (2007) Climate, Econiche, and Sexuality: Influences on Sonority in Language. American Anthropologist, 109(1), 180-185. DOI: 10.1525/aa.2007.109.1.180
Lupan, G. . (2009) Language structure is partly determined by social structure. Social and Linguistic Structure. info:/
Nettle, D. (1998) Explaining Global Patterns of Language Diversity. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 17(4), 354-374. DOI: 10.1006/jaar.1998.0328
Barone, T. (2000) Is the siesta an adaptation to disease?. Human Nature, 11(3), 233-258. DOI: 10.1007/s12110-000-1012-4
- February 20, 2012
- 07:38 AM
- 261 views
Phonemic Diversity and Vanishing Phonemes: Looking for Alternative Hypotheses
by Wintz in A Replicated Typo 2.0
In my last post on the vanishing phonemes debate I briefly mentioned Atkinson’s two major theoretical points: (i) that there is a link between phoneme inventory sizes, mechanisms of cultural transmission and the underlying demographic processes supporting these changes; (ii) we could develop a Serial Founder Effect (SFE) model from Africa based on the phoneme [...]... Read more »
Atkinson, Q. (2011) Phonemic Diversity Supports a Serial Founder Effect Model of Language Expansion from Africa. Science, 332(6027), 346-349. DOI: 10.1126/science.1199295
Lupyan G, & Dale R. (2010) Language structure is partly determined by social structure. PloS one, 5(1). PMID: 20098492
Trudgill, P. (2004) Linguistic and social typology: The Austronesian migrations and phoneme inventories. Linguistic Typology, 8(3), 305-320. DOI: 10.1515/lity.2004.8.3.305
Trudgill, P. (2011) Social structure and phoneme inventories. Linguistic Typology, 15(2), 155-160. DOI: 10.1515/LITY.2011.010
Kolinsky, R., Lidji, P., Peretz, I., Besson, M., & Morais, J. (2009) Processing interactions between phonology and melody: Vowels sing but consonants speak. Cognition, 112(1), 1-20. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.02.014
Munroe, R., Fought, J., & Macaulay, R. (2009) Warm Climates and Sonority Classes: Not Simply More Vowels and Fewer Consonants. Cross-Cultural Research, 43(2), 123-133. DOI: 10.1177/1069397109331485
- February 14, 2012
- 07:14 PM
- 287 views
How would you convince an undergraduate to start blogging?
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Why do you blog about your research? Why do you read other blogs? Does blogging improve your employability? Are there hidden advantages to blogging?... Read more »
Lutz Geißler, Robert Huber and Callan Bentley. (2011) The state of the Geoblogosphere – geoscience communication in the social web. geonetzwerk. info:/
- February 13, 2012
- 07:09 AM
- 253 views
Super Smart Animals
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
This new documentary about animal intelligence shares some of these elements (sandy beaches, far flung destinations), but crucially, Liz Bonnin is more than an enthusiastic observer – she is not just an engaging television presenter, but a REAL SCIENTIST.... Read more »
Pilley, J., & Reid, A. (2011) Border collie comprehends object names as verbal referents. Behavioural Processes, 86(2), 184-195. DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2010.11.007
- January 31, 2012
- 02:08 PM
- 188 views
You’ll never teach a monkey how to sing
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
While my posts are often less than serious, this one is slightly sillier than usual. It’s a song I wrote a while ago about animal communication. Enjoy/Endure/Evade: You can read about some of the theory that I distort with my artistic license here: Articles by Michael: Imitation in Chimpanzees , Animals learning syntax , Self-Domestication [...]... Read more »
Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, & Marler P. (1980) Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science (New York, N.Y.), 210(4471), 801-3. PMID: 7433999
Seyfarth, R., & Cheney, D. (2012) Animal Cognition: Chimpanzee Alarm Calls Depend On What Others Know. Current Biology, 22(2). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.11.050
Haesler S, Rochefort C, Georgi B, Licznerski P, Osten P, & Scharff C. (2007) Incomplete and inaccurate vocal imitation after knockdown of FoxP2 in songbird basal ganglia nucleus Area X. PLoS biology, 5(12). PMID: 18052609
MacLarnon AM, & Hewitt GP. (1999) The evolution of human speech: the role of enhanced breathing control. American journal of physical anthropology, 109(3), 341-63. PMID: 10407464
Ottoni, E., & Izar, P. (2008) Capuchin monkey tool use: Overview and implications. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 17(4), 171-178. DOI: 10.1002/evan.20185
- January 25, 2012
- 09:24 PM
- 339 views
The Great Mystery of Vanishing Phonemes
by Wintz in A Replicated Typo 2.0
It’s been well over a year since I first wrote about the relationship between phoneme inventory size and demography (see here and here). Since then, I have completed a thesis examining this relationship further, especially in the context of the relative roles of demography and tradeoffs between other linguistic subsystems (namely, a language’s lexicon and [...]... Read more »
Atkinson, Q. (2011) Phonemic Diversity Supports a Serial Founder Effect Model of Language Expansion from Africa. Science, 332(6027), 346-349. DOI: 10.1126/science.1199295
- January 3, 2012
- 07:09 AM
- 160 views
Social structure and language evolution: resolving the synthetic/analytic debate
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
How does social structure affect the way we think about the evolution of language?... Read more »
Kirby, S., Dowman, M., & Griffiths, T. (2007) Innateness and culture in the evolution of language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(12), 5241-5245. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0608222104
Scott-Phillips, T., & Kirby, S. (2010) Language evolution in the laboratory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(9), 411-417. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2010.06.006
Sorace, Antonella. (2011) Pinning down the concept of "interface" in bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1(33). info:/
- December 14, 2011
- 07:48 AM
- 1,184 views
The power of diversity: New Scientist recognises the growing work on social structure and linguistic structure
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
A feature article in last week’s New Scientist asks why there is so much linguistic diversity present in the world, and what are the forces that drive it. The article reads like a who’s who of the growing field of language structure and social structure. This is practically as close as my subject will come to having a pull-out section in Vanity Fair. Furthermore, it recognises the weakening grip of Chomskyan linguistics.... Read more »
David Robson. (2011) Power of Babel: Why one language isn't enough . New Scientist. info:/
- November 30, 2011
- 09:06 AM
- 274 views
Spurious correlation bonanza to mark Replicated Typo 2.0 reaching 100,000 hits
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
As we’ve shown on this blog, culturally transmitted features can be highly correlated with each other. This fact is a source of both frustration and fascination, so I’ve roped together some of my favourite investigations of cultural correlations into a correlation super-chain. Let Replicated Typo take you on trip from acacia trees to traffic accidents…... Read more »
Way, B., & Lieberman, M. (2010) Is there a genetic contribution to cultural differences? Collectivism, individualism and genetic markers of social sensitivity. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(2-3), 203-211. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq059
Atkinson QD. (2011) Phonemic diversity supports a serial founder effect model of language expansion from Africa. Science (New York, N.Y.), 332(6027), 346-9. PMID: 21493858
EMBER, C., & EMBER, M. (2007) Climate, Econiche, and Sexuality: Influences on Sonority in Language. American Anthropologist, 109(1), 180-185. DOI: 10.1525/aa.2007.109.1.180
Lupan, G. . (2009) Language structure is partly determined by social structure. Social and Linguistic Structure. info:/
Nettle, D. (1998) Explaining Global Patterns of Language Diversity. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 17(4), 354-374. DOI: 10.1006/jaar.1998.0328
Barone, T. (2000) Is the siesta an adaptation to disease?. Human Nature, 11(3), 233-258. DOI: 10.1007/s12110-000-1012-4
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