Distributed language: Biomechanics, functions, and the origins of talk

Abstract

Emphasizing that word-forms are culturally selected, the paper takes a distributed view of language. This is used to frame evidence that, in ontogenesis, language emerges under dual control by adult and child. Since parties gear to each other's biomechanics, norm-based behaviour prompts affective processes that drive prepared learning. This, it is argued, explains early stages in learning to talk. Next, this approach to external symbol grounding (ESG) is contrasted with ones where a similar problem is treated as internal to the agent. Then, turning to synthetic models, I indicate how the ESG can be used to model either populations of agents or dyads who, using complex signals, transform each other's agency. © 2007 Springer-Verlag London.