motivation variation & selection linguistic theories and

RolandMühlenbernd

IntroductionMotivation

Variation & Selection

LinguisticReplicationReplicators: Types or Tokens?

Units of Replication

Material Basis of Replicators

Mechanism of Replication

Priming

Homeworks

Theories and Models of Language ChangeSession 4: Evolutionary Approaches - Replication

Roland Mühlenbernd

May 12, 2015

RolandMühlenbernd







Priming

Homeworks

Motivation: Universal Darwinism

Mechanisms of universal evolution:

1. variation: continuing abundance of different elements

2. selection : number/probability of copies of elements -depending on interaction between element features andenvironmental features

3. replication: reproduction/copying of elements

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Linguistic Selection: Choose a Variant

d(A:

æ

)ns

you can’t tip( a

no

)fireman.

I(’ve got to

gotta

)go.

They offer the best(cattle

beef

)in town.

My daddy( taught

teached

)me all I know.

Wir gehen(zu dem

zum

)Strand.

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Selection & Evolutionary Drift

Selection:

Evolutionary Drift:

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The Problem of Linkage

Selection operates on language use, so how does it make itsway into grammar?

observed constraints on variation?↗? ⇓ ?↖?

corresponding pattern of functional preferences (selection)

Note: this problem is related to the question of (the locus of)replication: types or tokens?

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Homeworks

Linguistic Replication

1. What are linguistic replicators in the first place?

2. What are the units of linguistic replication?

3. What is the material basis of linguistic replicators?

4. What is the replication mechanism?

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Linguistic Replication

Thus, the paradigm replicator in language is thelingueme, parallel to the gene as the basic replicatorin biology; an utterance is made up of linguemes andlinguemes possess structure.

William Croft (2000): Explaining Language Change

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Dawkin’s Thought Experiment

Richard Dawkins is convinced that cultural replicators arecognitive units rather than their material effects and products!(Dawkins 1999)

Dawkin’s Thought Experiment:Suppose a line of children that

I reproduce a drawing of the predecessor in lineI teach the successor how to produce a origami model

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Exercise I

What is a ’type’ and what is a ’token’ in linguistic replication?

I token: the physical utterance / the productI type: the mental representation / the instruction

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Types and Tokens

Do linguistic tokens (physical utterances) or types (mentalrepresentations) replicate?

I The puzzle with ‘only tokens’-replication: “How cansyntactic structure or even meaning successfullyreplicate?”

I The puzzle with ‘only types’-replication: “How can onecopy what one cannot see?” (Ritt 2004)

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Exercise II

How does the ’exemplar-model’ work?

I Experienced tokens are categorized by the number offeatures that coincide with a predefined type → prototypemodel

I Experienced tokens are input for a neural network, whichconnections weights represent the characteristics of thetype → artificial neural network model

I Experienced tokens are registered, and the ’cloud’ theyform together defines the type. → exemplar model

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Types and Tokens

I exemplar model: tokens (exemplars) are mentallyregistered, and together (as a cloud) define the type(category) at hand.

I from an evolutionary point of view, language transmissionmay be both, horizontal (among speakers) and vertical(among generations)

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What units do linguemes/memes take?

Building blocks of linguistic structure:I phonemesI morphemesI phrasesI constructionsI corresponding meaning

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What is the material basis of memes/linguemes?

I the utterance is the DNA of linguistic evolution (Croft2000)

I brain states are a possible physical substrate of linguisticmemes (Ritt 2004)

A ‘meme’ represents an assembly of nodes in anetwork of neurally implemented constituents, whichhas (a) a definite internal structure, (b) a definableposition within a larger network configuration, (c)qualifies as a replicator in Dawkins’ sense.

Nikolaus Ritt (2004): Selfish Sounds and Linguistic Evolution

Note: Ritt’s sketch still lacks empirical and theoreticalunderpinning from the realm of neurolinguistics.

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Exercise III

What kind of replication mechanisms are discussed in Section4.3?

I social learning → crucial mechanism in cultural evolution(Pagel 2011)

I accommodation → important mechanism in the selectionprocess of language change (Croft 2000)

I conformity to/violation of convention√

(Croft 2000)→ normal/altered replication

I cultural replicators copy via imitation√

(Ritt 2004)

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Priming

Priming is a well-known psycholinguistic mechanismthat refers to the (usually) increased likelihood oflinguistic elements to be repeated in the sense thateither speakers are more likely to repeat what they’vepreviously said (...) or that hearers may better parsewhat they’ve previously heard (...).

Annette Rosenbach (2008): Language Change as CulturalEvolution

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Exercise IV

What is ’primeability’?I the degree of facilitation of effort for processing a

linguistic element (through pre-activation)I the probability of repetition of the same linguistic elementI the similarity of linguistic elements in terms of priming

effects√

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Priming

Priming...I has been shown to operate on all linguistic levels:

I evidence for the priming of form, on the phonological,lexical, and syntactic level)

I evidence for priming of meaning on the semantic levelI provides a plausible cognitive mechanism for both

I faithful replication in terms of identity primingI non-faithful (i.e. altered) replication in terms of similarity

priming

I might be related to unidirectional diachronic change

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Priming Example

I identity priminga. At what time do you close? at sixb. What time do you close? six o’clock

I similarity priminga. The 747 was alerted by the airport’s control tower.b. The 747 was landing by the airport’s control tower.

} passive

I unidirectional priminga.i The dark widget is on front of the light widget.a.ii Next Wednesday’s meeting has been moved forward two days.

When did the meeting take place? Monday vs Fridayb.i Thursday comes before Saturday.b.ii Which of the two widgets is ahead? dark vs light

I cross-linguistic priming (language contact)a.i il grappolo d’uva (bunch of grapes)a.ii Bündel von Trauben vs Traubenbündel

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Priming And Linguistic Replication

Questions:

1. What are the units of linguistic replication?

2. What are possible minimal steps in the process of alteredreplication (in terms of possible analogical extension)?

Answer(s)s: Whatever can be primed.

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Exercise V

Complete the following quote from the article:

“...priming does not only offer a possible cognitive ex-planation for the observed change phenomena (...), but atthe same time also turns the issue of unidirectionality andcontact-induced change into an empirical question, as it al-lows for testing present-day speakers for past changes, un-der the uniformitarian assumption that the brains of today’sspeakers do not differ from past speakers’ brains."

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Conclusion

An evolutionary approach in terms of priming may help

1. to ground evolutionary language change models moreclosely within cognition.

2. to make their assumptions more closely subject toempirical testing by psycholinguistic studies.

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Homeworks

Homeworks

I Read the article ‘Using Social Impact Theory to simulatelanguage change’ (Nettle, 1999)

I solve the appropriate exercises given on ILIAS

motivation variation & selection linguistic theories and

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