Viability of an elementary syntactic structure in a population playing Naming Games

TL;DR

This paper investigates how social communication dynamics can lead to the emergence of syntactic structures in language, using a modified Naming Game model to demonstrate the conditions favoring syntax development.

Contribution

It introduces a model incorporating elementary syntax into the Naming Game, showing how social factors promote the rise of syntactic communication.

Findings

Syntactic communication emerges more readily in communities exchanging many concepts.

Social dynamics favor the transition from non-syntactic to syntactic language.

Elementary syntax can develop through social interaction without explicit teaching.

Abstract

We explore how the social dynamics of communication and learning can bring about the rise of a syntactic communication in a population of speakers. Our study is developed starting from a version of the Naming Game model where an elementary syntactic structure is introduced. This analysis shows how the transition from non-syntactic to syntactic communication is socially favored in communities which need to exchange a large number of concepts.