Origins and evolution of shared combinatorial speech sounds
This research is concerned with the elaboration of a unified theory about the following three fundamental questions concerning the origins of the sound systems of human languages:
- Origins of combinatoriality anf phonemic coding: how do we get from holistic to digital speech, in which syllables are composed of re-usable parts ?
- Origins of phonotactics: how do we explain the structural regularities of phoneme inventories ?
- Origins of a culturally shared speech code: How can a society of agents develop a shared system of vocalizations ?
The hypothesis that is explored is that the origins of speech can be understood only as the result of complex dynamical interactions between speaking and listening individuals, each of them being a complex system in which the vocal tract, the ear, and the neural system that connects them are coupled.
The dynamics of complex systems is difficult to understand, and one of the best tools to study them is computer modeling. This is why societies of artificial agents were built. Agents were endowed with artificial vocal tracts, ears and brains, in order to explore the possible mechanisms that could explain the origins of shared speech systems.
Architecture of the coupling between sensorimotor modalities
and between agents
Through these computational experiments, we have shown that from a minimal neural kit for vocal replication, a shared combinatorial speech code with structural regularities and diversity can spontaneously self-organize in a population of agents. This allows to understand that the evolutionary step from vocal replication systems to modern human speech systems might have been rather small.
The aim of these experiments is primarily exploratory. It is not supposed to prove directly what mechanisms were used for humans, but rather develop our intuitions and help structuring the research debate. In particular, we think that building artificial systems allows us to shape the search space of possible answers, in particular by showing what is sufficient and what is not necessary.
Links: More details on computational modeling of the origins of speech sounds.
Participants: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Tags: Developmental Robotics, Language
References
The Self-Organization of Speech Sounds. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 233(3):435-449 2005.
The self-organisation of combinatoriality and phonotactics in vocalisation systems. Connection Science, 17(3-4):pp. 325-341 2005.
From vocal replication to shared combinatorial speech codes: a small step for evolution, a big step for language. In C. Lyon and C. Nehaniv and A. Cangelosi, editor, Emergence of Communication and Language, Springer Verlag. 2006.
Self-Organization in the Evolution of Speech. Studies in the Evolution of Language, Oxford University Press, 2006.
