Effective lexicon change in the absence of population flux

Abstract

Multiple agents, equipped with a feature-based phonetic model and a connectionist cognitive model, interact via the naming game paradigm, such that lexicon formation and change is an emergent property of this complex adaptive system. Our system converges on a coherent lexicon and effective language change is demonstrated, even in the absence of a changing population, which brings into question claims made in earlier work. We argue that our phonetic and cognitive models tend towards a cognitive validity which was absent from previous work in this area, while maintaining the flexibility of other systems.