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An error limit for the evolution of language.

M A Nowak¹, D C Krakauer, A Dress

¹Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.

Proceedings. Biological Sciences

|July 21, 2000

Summary

The evolution of communication shows that errors limit simple systems. Combining signals into words, like phonemes into words, overcomes this limit, enabling complex language development.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Linguistics
Information theory

Background:

Human language evolved from limited to unlimited communication.
Language structure involves generating words from phonemes and sentences from words.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of errors in the evolution of simple communication systems.
To identify the evolutionary optimum for signal usage in communication.

Main Methods:

Studied the evolution of communication with error-prone signals.
Analyzed the impact of signal quantity on communication system fitness.
Investigated signal combination as a strategy to overcome error limits.

Main Results:

Errors in simple communication systems limit the number of describable concepts.
The evolutionary optimum involves using few signals for few valuable concepts.
Adding more signals does not improve language fitness beyond an error limit.

Conclusions:

Signal combination (phonemes into words) is crucial for overcoming error limits.
The transition from analogue to digital systems was essential for language evolution.

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