The nature of language

Code
570632
Credits
5cr

Goals

This course explores some key ideas in the recent study of the origins and evolution of language. On the one hand, attention is paid to formal and computational models of language evolution—although always keeping the focus on the philosophical import of such models. On the other hand, some prominent contemporary ideas about signalling in animals and early humans is reviewed.

 

Course plan

1. Course overview

2. Information and Games

  • We first introduce the *sender-receiver* framework
  • Ideas in game and information theory to model cooperation and some of its constraints. 
    • Skyrms, Brian. 2010. Signals: Evolution, Learning & Information. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • We will then discuss the problem of cooperation in the face of deception and free-riding.
    • Skyrms, Brian, 2003, The Stag Hunt, chapters 1, 2 and 3.

3. Animal Communication

  • We first look into how animal communication, and animal cognition in general, presents features we associate with language proper. 
    • Fitch, W. Tecumseh. 2010. The Evolution of Language. Cambridge University Press
  • Then we take a deeper dive into sperm-whale phonetics. 
    • harma, Pratyusha, Shane Gero, Roger Payne, David F. Gruber, Daniela Rus, Antonio Torralba, and Jacob Andreas. 2024. “Contextual and Combinatorial Structure in Sperm Whale Vocalisations.” Nature Communications 15 (1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47221-8.

4. Primate and early human communication

  • Cheney, Dorothy L. and Robert M. Seyfarth. 2008. Baboon Metaphysics. University of Chicago Press.
  • Tomasello, M. 2008. Origins of Human Communication. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.
  • Planer, Ronald and Kim Sterelny. Forthcoming. From Signal to Symbol. The MIT Press.
  • Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer, and Judith M. Burkart. 2020. “The Emergence of Emotionally Modern Humans: Implications for Language and Learning.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 375 (1803): 20190499. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0499.

5. Computational models

  • Kirby, Simon, Monica Tamariz, Hannah Cornish and Kenny Smith. 2015. “Compression and Communication in the Cultural Evolution of Linguistic Structure”. Cognition 141 (August): 87–102.
  • Cangelosi, Angelo and Domenico Parisi. 2012. Simulating the Evolution of Language. Springer Science & Business Media.

6. Conclusions

 

Teaching

For each session a text is proposed to be read beforehand. The sessions consist of seminar-style discussions of these texts, led by the lecturer and in which ample participation of the students is expected (see the section on Assessment).

If the situation demands it, these discussions could be carried out through an online videoconference platform.

Insofar as the topic allows it (most clearly in our sessions on primate and early human communication), the extent to which gender roles influenced the evolution of language is considered.

 

Assessment

Continuous assessment consists of the following activities:

  • Seminar paper of 4,000 words in length, on any of the topics discussed during the course. This paper must be written in English. 60% of the final grade.
  • In each session, one or two students prepare a question about the readings for that day. This question should be submitted to the lecturer by email the day before the session. They pose their question during the seminar. 20% of the final grade.
  • Participation in class. All other students are expected to ask questions and participate in the seminar. 20% of the final grade.

If a student finds class participation hard in any way, they should contact the lecturer in advance to find alternatives.

NB: Plagiarism can result (and has resulted in the past) in a failing grade for the course. This is taken very seriously.

 

Bibliography

Cangelosi, Angelo, and Domenico Parisi. 2012. Simulating the Evolution of Language. Springer Science & Business Media.

Cheney, Dorothy L., and Robert M. Seyfarth. 2007. Baboon Metaphysics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Fitch, W. Tecumseh. 2010. The Evolution of Language. Cambridge University Press.

Kirby, Simon, Monica Tamariz, Hannah Cornish, and Kenny Smith. 2015. “Compression and Communication in the Cultural Evolution of Linguistic Structure.” Cognition 141 (August): 87–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.03.016.

Planer, Ronald, and Kim Sterelny. forthcoming. From Signal to Symbol. The MIT Press.

Searcy, William A., and Stephen Nowicki. 2005. The Evolution of Animal Communication Reliability and Deception in Signaling Games. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Skyrms, Brian. 2010. Signals: Evolution, Learning & Information. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tomasello, M. 2008. Origins of Human Communication. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.