We present a series of studies investigating the formation, generative power, andevolution of toponyms (i.e. topographic names). The domain chosen for this project isthe spatial concepts related to places in an environment, one of the key sets of conceptsto be grounded in autonomous agents. Concepts for places cannot be directly perceivedas they require knowledge of relationships between locations in space, with representations inferred from ambiguous sensory data acquired through exploration. Agenerative toponymic language game has been developed to allow the agents to interact,forming concepts for locations and spatial relations. The studies demonstrate how agrounded generative toponymic language can form and evolve in a population of agentsinteracting through language games. Initially, terms are grounded in simple spatialconcepts directly experienced by the agents. A generative process then enables the agentsto learn about and refer to locations beyond their direct experience, enabling conceptsand toponyms to co-evolve. The significance of this research is the demonstration ofgrounding for both experienced and novel concepts, using a generative process, appliedto spatial locations.
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