Linguistics and English Language
The University of Edinburgh
Adam Ferguson Building
40 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LL
Tel: +44 131 650 3961
Fax: +44 131 650 3962
Background
I was awarded an MA(Hons) in Linguistics and
Artificial Intelligence from The University of Edinburgh in 2005 and wrote my undergraduate
dissertation on the role of meaning and expressivity within the
iterated learning model of language evolution. This project involved
programming artificial neural networks to learn elements of
structured language, and exploring what happens when the system
evolves only under the pressure to become learnable. I then went on
to obtain an MSc in
Developmental Linguistics as part of a 1+3 studentship from the ESRC. My masters thesis is closely
related to my current work, and can be found here
Research interests
Right now I work within the Language Evolution
and Computation Research Unit, taking an empirical approach to
studying language evolution and the unintentional emergence of
cumulative culture in human populations.
Current Project - Human Iterated Learning
My current project revolves around developing an experimental method for examining language learning and evolution in human subjects. This will hopefully open up a new and exciting area of research, providing a testing ground for the predictions made by many modellers and researchers here in Edinburgh, and offer new insights into how language acquisition interfaces with social and population dynamics.
Reading Links
Some material to get up to speed on the ILM and work in other domains:-
1)
Simon and Jim's Overview of early ILM research using
computational simulations.
2)
Recent paper by Hudson-Kam and Newport - demonstrates the
application of Artificial Language Learning tasks to testing
hypotheses surrounding language change and creolisation. This paper touches
on many aspects of my research.
3)
Bruno Galantucci's 2005 paper - this paper proves that the
emergence of language origins CAN and SHOULD be investigated empirically.
4)
Andy Whiten and colleagues - recent work with chimps looking at
cultural transmission of a skill, passed on through a real-life community.
