4 research outputs found
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Linguistic modality affects the creation of structure and iconicity in signals
Different linguistic modalities (speech or sign) offer different levels at which signals can iconically represent the world. One hypothesis argues that this iconicity has an effect on how linguistic structure emerges. However, exactly how and why these effects might come about is in need of empirical investigation. In this contribution, we present a signal creation experiment in which both the signalling space and the meaning space are manipulated so that different levels and types of iconicity are available between the signals and meanings. Signals are produced using an infrared sensor that detects the hand position of participants to generate auditory feedback. We find evidence that iconicity may be maladaptive for the discrimination of created signals. Further, we implemented Hidden Markov Models to characterise the structure within signals, which was also used to inform a metric for iconicity
Empirical approaches for investigating the origins of structure in speech
© John Benjamins Publishing Company. In language evolution research, the use of computational and experimental methods to investigate the emergence of structure in language is exploding. In this review, we look exclusively at work exploring the emergence of structure in speech, on both a categorical level (what drives the emergence of an inventory of individual speech sounds), and a combinatorial level (how these individual speech sounds emerge and are reused as part of larger structures). We show that computational and experimental methods for investigating population-level processes can be effectively used to explore and measure the effects of learning, communication and transmission on the emergence of structure in speech. We also look at work on child language acquisition as a tool for generating and validating hypotheses for the emergence of speech categories. Further, we review the effects of noise, iconicity and production effects
Recommended from our members
Linguistic Modality Affects the Creation of Structure and Iconicity in Signals
Different linguistic modalities (speech or sign) offer different
levels at which signals can iconically represent the world.
One hypothesis argues that this iconicity has an effect on how
linguistic structure emerges. However, exactly how and why
these effects might come about is in need of empirical investigation.
In this contribution, we present a signal creation
experiment in which both the signalling space and the meaning
space are manipulated so that different levels and types of
iconicity are available between the signals and meanings. Signals
are produced using an infrared sensor that detects the hand
position of participants to generate auditory feedback. We find
evidence that iconicity may be maladaptive for the discrimination
of created signals. Further, we implemented Hidden
Markov Models to characterise the structure within signals,
which was also used to inform a metric for iconicit