Transcript Document

Computational and Evolutionary
Aspects of Language
Written by: Martin Nowak, Natalia
Komarova, and Partha Niyogi
Presentation by: Amerika Adams,
Isaac Huang, and Margaret Kuwata
Purpose
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Attempt to formulate a synthesis of three theories.
Addresses the importance of human language.
Addresses the following questions:
1. What is language?
2. What is grammar?
3. What is learning?
4. How does a child learn language?
5. How formal language theory and learning theory can be extended to study
language as a biological phenomenon and as a product of evolution.
Formal Language Theory
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It is a mode of communication
It is a crucial part of human behavior
It is the sequencing of small units into
bigger structures.
There are rules for word grouping.
What is language?
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The alphabet is a set of symbols
Sentences are strings of symbols
Language is a set of sentences
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Example: Binary Language
What is grammar?
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It is a finite set of rules specifying a
language.
Expressed in terms of “rewrite rules”
Languages, Grammars,
and Machines.
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Correspondence between languages, grammars,
and machines.
Regular Languages are generated by finite-state
grammars which is equal to finite-state automata.
Finite-state automata have a start, a finite number
of intermediate states, and a finish.
A particular run from start to finish produces a
sentence.
Learning Theory
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Learning is the ability to generalize beyond
one’s own experience to new
circumstances.
Learning theory describes the mathematics
of learning with the aim of outlining
conditions for successful generalization.
Theory of Universal Grammar (UG)
What is special about language
acquisition?
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We learn the grammar of generative
systems.
The process occurs without being
instructed about rules.
The set of all computable languages is
learnable by an algorithm that memorizes
the rules.
Evolutionary Language Theory
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The evolution of language occurred in several
incremental steps that were guided by natural
selection.
The theory states that by taking a population of
individuals and with each individual using a
particular language, the successful ones are able
to communicate which results in a pay-off that
attributes to fitness.
Languages change overtime because the
transmission from one generation to the next is
not perfect.
Agreements
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1. Language is a crucial part of human
identity and behavior.
2. Language has evolved through
Darwinian dynamics of natural selection.
3. That learning is the ability to generalize
beyond one’s own experience. Not just
modeling others.
Disagreements
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1. The set of all computable languages is
learnable by an algorithm that memorizes
rules. (?)
That children have a restricted set of innate
languages they could learn correctly.