Self-organization in the evolution of speech / / Pierre-Yves Oudeyer ; translated by James R. Hurford

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910962893003321
• Autore: Oudeyer Pierre-Yves
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Oxford ; ; New York, : Oxford University Press, 2006
• ISBN: 9786610903467; 9786611370220; 9780191516108; 0191516104; 9781429469838; 1429469838; 9781281370228; 1281370223; 9780199289141; 019928914X
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: xiv, 177 p. : ill
• Collana: Oxford linguistics; Studies in the evolution of language ; ; 6
• Disciplina: 401.9
• Soggetti: Language and languages - Origin; Speech; Self-organizing systems
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Series title from jacket.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [155]-161) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- List of Figures -- 1. The Self-Organization Revolution in Science -- 1.1 Self-organization: a new light on nature -- 1.2 Language origins -- 1.2.1 Interdisciplinarity -- 1.2.2 Computer modelling -- 2. The Human Speech Code -- 2.1 The instruments of speech -- 2.2 Articulatory phonology -- 2.3 The organization of the speech code: universals -- 2.3.1 The speech code is discrete and combinatorial -- 2.3.2 The speech code is a classification system shared by the whole linguistic community -- 2.3.3 Statistical regularities in the phoneme inventories of human languages -- 2.4 The diversity of speech codes -- 2.5 Origins, development, and ; form -- 3. Self-Organization and Evolution -- 3.1 Self-organization -- 3.1.1 Rayleigh-Bénard convection -- 3.1.2 Ferro-magnetization -- 3.2 Self-organization and natural selection -- 3.2.1 Classic neo-Darwinism -- 3.2.2 Self-organization: constraining the search space -- 3.2.3 Evolutionary explanations: function is not enough -- 3.2.4 Exaptation -- 3.3 Explaining the origin of living forms -- 4. Existing Theories -- 4.1 The reductionist approach -- 4.2 The functionalist approach -- 4.3 Operational scenarios -- 4.4 Going further -- 5. Artificial Systems as Research Tools -- 5.1 What is the scientific logic? -- 5.2 What is the point of constructing artificial systems? -- 6. The Artificial System -- 6.1 Mechanism -- 6.1.1 Assumption 1: neural units -- 6.1.2 Assumption 2: perceptuo-motor correspondences -- 6.1.3 Assumption 3: perception and plasticity -- 6.1.4 Assumption 4: production -- 6.1.5 Assumption 5: initial distribution of preferred vectors -- 6.1.6 Assumption 6: no coordinated interactions -- 6.1.7 What is not assumed -- 6.2 Dynamics -- 6.2.1 The case of uniform initial distribution -- 6.2.2 The case where the initial distribution is non-uniform.; 6.3 Categorization and acoustic illusions -- 7. Learning Perceptuo-motor Correspondences -- 7.1 The articulatory synthesizer and a model of vowel perception -- 7.2 Dynamics: predicting human vowel systems -- 8. Strong Combinatoriality and Phonotactics -- 8.1 Temporal neurons and their self-organized death -- 8.2 The dynamic formation of phonotactics and patterns of combinations -- 8.3 The impact of articulatory and energetic constraints -- 9. New Scenarios -- 9.1 Compatibility with neuroscience -- 9.2 Contribution to scenarios of the origins of speech -- 9.2.1 An adaptationist scenario: an origin linked to the evolutionary advantage of linguistic communication systems -- 9.2.2 Another adaptationist scenario, with the exaptation of discreteness, shared categorization, and combinatoriality -- 9.2.3 An exaptationist scenario in which the origin of the whole speech system results from architectural side effects -- 10. Constructing for Understanding -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z.
• Sommario/riassunto: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer combines insights from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and linguistics to explore questions about the origins of speech. He puts forward the startling proposal that speech can be spontaneously generated by the coupling of evolutionarily simple neural structures connecting perception and production. He tests this hypothesis through a computational system and shows that the linking of auditory and vocal motor neural nets produces syntactic rulesthat exhibit the fundamental properties of modern human speech systems. This fascinating account will interest all those interested in the evolution of speech.