Establishing linguistic conventions in task-oriented primeval dialogue
This addresses the origin of language for researchers in linguistics and AI, but it is incremental as it builds on existing coordination task models.
The paper tackled the problem of how language might have emerged for coordinating complex tasks by simulating task-oriented dialogue based on a coordination task, finding that success strongly affects the reliability and dispersion of linguistic conventions.
In this paper, we claim that language is likely to have emerged as a mechanism for coordinating the solution of complex tasks. To confirm this thesis, computer simulations are performed based on the coordination task presented by Garrod & Anderson (1987). The role of success in task-oriented dialogue is analytically evaluated with the help of performance measurements and a thorough lexical analysis of the emergent communication system. Simulation results confirm a strong effect of success mattering on both reliability and dispersion of linguistic conventions.