The Naming Game
The ‘naming game’ experiments used computer simulations of communities of language users to explore the emergence of shared lexicons in a population. In the naming game, software agents interact with each other in a stylised interaction (termed a ‘language game’). Repeated interactions lead to the development of a common repertoire of words for naming objects. By varying experimental parameters, it is possible to explore the effect of environmental factors such as noise and uncertainty, memory limitations, and contact between different language groups.
Word competition in the Naming Game
As the language evolves, different word tokens ‘compete’ to represent particular meanings. This graph shows the competition between three words, two of which ultimately die out of the language, leaving the third as the preferred word for the given meaning.
Population change in the Naming Game
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Initially, the population size is fixed. The language emerges, becomes coherent and supports effective communication. In the second phase of the experiment, an agent is replaced every hundred games. The change affects the language, but communication is still possible, as the existing agents preserve the established language. In the third phase, the rate of replacement is speeded up further. Under these conditions, the language breaks down: the population is changing too quickly to maintain the language.
Form stochasticity in the Naming Game
The ‘form stochasticity’ parameter governs the accuracy with which word forms are transmitted: higher stochasticity means that word tokens are more likely to be distorted during transmission. This parameter might reflect the effects of ambient noise, or imperfections in the perception or production process.
In this graph, stochasticity is initially high: the language is slow to stabilize, because word forms are not reliably communicated. Reducing the stochasticity allows the formation of a stable language. When the stochasticity is returned to the previous, higher value in the third phase, communication is able to continue because the existence of a shared language allows hearers to compensate for errors in transmission.
Participants: Luc Steels, Frédéric Kaplan, Angus McIntyre
Tags: Language
References
An architecture for evolving robust shared communication systems in noisy environments. Proceedings of Sony Research Forum 1998, Tokyo, 1998.
Babel: A testbed for research in origins of language. Proceedings of COLING-ACL 98, Montreal, 1998. ACL.
Spatially Distributed Naming Games. Advances in complex systems, 1(4):301-323 January 1999.
