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An Agent-based model of the gradual emergence of modern linguistic complexity

View ORCID ProfileMarcel Ruland, View ORCID ProfileAlejandro Andirkó, Iza Romanowska, View ORCID ProfileCedric Boeckx
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.12.380683
Marcel Ruland
aUniversitat de Barcelona
bUniversität Osnabrück
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Alejandro Andirkó
aUniversitat de Barcelona
cUniversity of Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS)
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Iza Romanowska
dAarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS)
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Cedric Boeckx
aUniversitat de Barcelona
cUniversity of Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS)
eCatalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA)
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  • For correspondence: cedric.boeckx@ub.edu
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Abstract

A central question in the evolution of human language is whether it emerged as a result of one specific event or from a mosaic-like constellation of different phenomena and their interactions. Three potential processes have been identified by recent research as the potential primum mobile for the origins of modern linguistic complexity: Self-domestication, characterized by a reduction in reactive aggression and often associated with a gracilization of the face; changes in early brain development manifested by globularization of the skull; and demographic expansion of H. sapiens during the Middle Pleistocene. We developed an agent-based model to investigate how these three factors influence transmission of information within a population. Our model shows that there is an optimal degree of both hostility and mental capacity at which the amount of transmitted information is the largest. It also shows that linguistic communities formed within the population are strongest under circumstances where individuals have high levels of cognitive capacity available for information processing and there is at least a certain degree of hostility present. In contrast, we find no significant effects related to population size.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • http://www.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4270200

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted November 15, 2020.
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An Agent-based model of the gradual emergence of modern linguistic complexity
Marcel Ruland, Alejandro Andirkó, Iza Romanowska, Cedric Boeckx
bioRxiv 2020.11.12.380683; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.12.380683
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An Agent-based model of the gradual emergence of modern linguistic complexity
Marcel Ruland, Alejandro Andirkó, Iza Romanowska, Cedric Boeckx
bioRxiv 2020.11.12.380683; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.12.380683

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