Why is combinatorial communication rare in the natural world, and why is language an exception to this trend?
Why is combinatorial communication rare in the natural world, and why is language an exception to this trend?
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为什么组合交流在自然界中很少见,为什么语言是这一趋势的例外?
DOI:
10.1098/rsif.2013.0520
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发表时间:
2013
期刊:
影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
Scott-Phillips TC
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Scott-Phillips TC
In a combinatorial communication system, some signals consist of the combinations of other signals. Such systems are more efficient than equivalent, non-combinatorial systems, yet despite this they are rare in nature. Why? Previous explanations have focused on the adaptive limits of combinatorial communication, or on its purported cognitive difficulties, but neither of these explains the full distribution of combinatorial communication in the natural world. Here, we present a nonlinear dynamical model of the emergence of combinatorial communication that, unlike previous models, considers how initially non-communicative behaviour evolves to take on a communicative function. We derive three basic principles about the emergence of combinatorial communication. We hence show that the interdependence of signals and responses places significant constraints on the historical pathways by which combinatorial signals might emerge, to the extent that anything other than the most simple form of combinatorial communication is extremely unlikely. We also argue that these constraints can be bypassed if individuals have the socio-cognitive capacity to engage in ostensive communication. Humans, but probably no other species, have this ability. This may explain why language, which is massively combinatorial, is such an extreme exception to nature's general trend for non-combinatorial communication.
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DOI:
--
发表时间:
2010
期刊:
影响因子:
--
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DOI:
10.1001/jama.1984.03350080015006
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1984-08
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JAMA
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