Modeling the cultural evolution of language

The paper surveys recent research on language evolution, focusing in particular on models of cultural evolution and how they are being developed and tested using agent-based computational simulations and robotic experiments. The key challenges for evolutionary theories of language are outlined and some example results are discussed, highlighting models explaining how linguistic conventions get shared, how conceptual frameworks get coordinated through language, and how hierarchical structure could emerge. The main conclusion of the paper is that cultural evolution is a much more powerful process that usually assumed, implying that less innate structures or biases are required and consequently that human language evolution has to rely less on genetic evolution.

► Individuals invent and adopt new conventions to cope with their ecological needs.
► Possible inventions are constrained by sensory-motor embodiment and human cognition.
► Which ones thrive depends on communicative success and minimal cognitive effort.
► Language users coordinate their language systems through alignment.