20 February 2024, Language Evolution Amsterdam (LEA), Dan Dediu

Dan will present on location (in the city centre; room tbc), but we will offer it as a hybrid event meeting link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/84261555885

Abstract:

It has become a platitude, but it is still worth repeating that the 7000 or so language currently used differ in many ways at basically every level ones cares to look at, but that this variation is patterned and resulting from a multitude of complex processes. In this talk I will try to argue that some of this variation is due to the amplification of (relatively weak) biases expressed at the level of the individual language learner and user, as language is repeatedly used and transmitted within and between groups and generations. The engine driving this amplification is represented by cultural evolutionary processes acting in structured communicative networks. I will present some examples of such such amplification arguably having taken place, with the amplified biases ranging from phonetic details due to minute variation in vocal tract anatomy, to the colour lexicon due to environmental effects on the physiology of the eye, passing through the complex origins of such biases in the interactions between our genes, environment and culture. Finally, I will briefly present some ongoing modelling and experimental work that tries to understand how communication in structured networks might explain this type of amplification.