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The consequences of Zipf's law for syntax and symbolic reference
Ramon Ferrer i Cancho1, Oliver Riordan, Béla Bollobás
1ICREA-Complex Systems Laboratory, IMIM-UPF, Dr Aiguader 80, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. ramon@pil.phys.uniromal.it
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|April 1, 2005
Summary
Human language evolution is explained by communication efficiency and reduced ambiguity. These principles lead to Zipf
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Linguistics
- Theoretical computer science
Background:
- Human language, with its syntax and symbolic reference, is unique among species.
- Previous research explored the selective advantages of syntax but not the natural combination of signals.
- Communication systems maximizing efficiency and minimizing cost, or constraining ambiguity, follow Zipf's law.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how fundamental communication principles can give rise to rudimentary syntax and symbolic reference.
- To demonstrate that principles of communicative efficiency and ambiguity constraint can explain signal combination in language evolution.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical modeling of communication systems based on principles of efficiency and ambiguity.
- Analysis of signal frequency distributions derived from these models.
- Comparison of model-generated signal properties with features of human language.
Main Results:
- Communication principles favoring efficiency and reduced ambiguity naturally lead to signal frequency distributions obeying Zipf's law.
- These principles generate signals with characteristics similar to linking words (e.g., prepositions, conjunctions) in human languages.
- The study demonstrates the emergence of a rudimentary form of syntax and symbolic reference from these basic communication constraints.
Conclusions:
- Basic principles of efficient and unambiguous communication can explain the origin of syntax and symbolic reference in language evolution.
- The findings provide a theoretical framework for understanding how complex linguistic structures can arise from simpler communication needs.
- This research bridges theoretical communication principles with empirical observations of human language structure.
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