Effects of individual and social learning on the evolution of co-creative linguistic communication

Abstract

The effects of learning have been regarded as important factors of the evolutionary process of human linguistic abilities. Our purpose is, by use of computer simulations, to examine the effects of individual and social learning on the evolution of cognitive (e.g., building language hierarchy) and communicative (e.g., intention sharing) abilities of language based on the interplay between biological and cultural evolution of language. In particular, we focus on a co-creative aspect of linguistic communication, which is a synergy of both cognitive and communicative aspects of language. Our simulation results show that roles of individual and social learning can work together and contribute to the evolution of co-creative aspect of linguistic abilities. It is also implied that the stable evolutionary process of cognitive abilities is based on repeated occurrences of the Baldwin effect, and dynamic and less assimilated evolution of communicative traits can work together, contributing to the co-creative communication.