THE CUMULATIVE CULTURAL EVOLUTION OF AN INSTRUCTION LANGUAGE

摘要

Experimental-semiotic studies indicate that human communication systems evolve adaptively; over repeated interactions signs become more accurate and more efficient at picking out their referents (Fay, Garrod, Roberts, & Swoboda, 2010; Garrod, Fay, Lee, Oberlander, & MacLeod, 2007). Furthermore, sign optimization is more strongly observed in larger populations where there is more sign variation (Fay & Ellison, 2013; Fay, Garrod, & Roberts, 2008). To study how new communication systems arise and evolve these studies require that participants communicate in a novel modality (e.g., by drawing). Thus, it is not clear if our fully established language evolves in a similar functionally adaptive way. The present study addresses this question.