Embodiment, situatedness and language origins
(Invited Lecture)
Paul Vogt
Language Evolution & Computation Research Unit
University of Edinburgh
Abstract
When studying the origins and evolution of language there are various
research methods that one can use. One method involves robotics.
Robotics can be used to study issues relating to language evolution
that involve symbol grounding. One aspect is that when one wants to
model certain aspects of language evolution, these models should remain
valid in grounded settings. Another, stronger aspect, is the hypothesis
that already much of the language structure can be extracted from an
agent's interaction with its environment. Such a view is consistent
with the embodied and situated cognition paradigm.
In this talk I present some work that I have done on using robotic
platforms to study language evolution. In particular, some issues are
discussed that relate to sharing attention and to the emergence of
compositional structures in language. If time permits, I will look
forward to a recently started project in which a large multi-agent
population is, among others, supposed to evolve language in an
environment in which cooperation among agents will be crucial for their
viability.
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