Category competition as a driver of category contrast

IF 2.1 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
A. Wedel, I. Fatkullin
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引用次数: 10

Abstract

Some mental categories map to percepts which are products of human behaviors, such as linguistic signals. Because behavior is learned and updated by experience, biases in the way a behavior is perceived can influence how it is reproduced, allowing behaviorally based categories to evolve over time. Here we show that this perception–production feedback loop can itself promote preservation of contrast between categories. Using both simulation and analytical tools, we show that asymmetries in the mapping of perceptual variants to competing categories acts to sharpen category boundaries. Evidence from patterns of change in modern languages is consistent with this mechanism. Because the ability to maintain a large number of distinct signal/meaning categories is a prerequisite for complex language, this cognitively general mechanism may have contributed to the initial evolution of the language faculty.
品类竞争是品类对比的驱动因素
一些心理类别映射到感知,这些感知是人类行为的产物,比如语言信号。因为行为是通过经验习得和更新的,所以对一种行为的感知方式的偏见会影响它的再现方式,从而使基于行为的类别随着时间的推移而演变。在这里,我们表明这种感知-生产反馈回路本身可以促进类别之间对比的保存。使用模拟和分析工具,我们表明,感知变量映射到竞争类别的不对称性会使类别边界变得尖锐。现代语言变化模式的证据与这种机制是一致的。因为维持大量不同的信号/意义类别的能力是复杂语言的先决条件,这种认知一般机制可能有助于语言能力的最初进化。
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来源期刊
Journal of Language Evolution
Journal of Language Evolution Social Sciences-Linguistics and Language
CiteScore
4.50
自引率
7.70%
发文量
8
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