The Interactive Origin of Iconicity

Cognitive Science 42 (1):334-349 (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

We investigate the emergence of iconicity, specifically a bouba-kiki effect in miniature artificial languages under different functional constraints: when the languages are reproduced and when they are used communicatively. We ran transmission chains of participant dyads who played an interactive communicative game and individual participants who played a matched learning game. An analysis of the languages over six generations in an iterated learning experiment revealed that in the Communication condition, but not in the Reproduction condition, words for spiky shapes tend to be rated by naive judges as more spiky than the words for round shapes. This suggests that iconicity may not only be the outcome of innovations introduced by individuals, but, crucially, the result of interlocutor negotiation of new communicative conventions. We interpret our results as an illustration of cultural evolution by random mutation and selection.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,757

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Which words are most iconic?Bodo Winter, Marcus Perlman, Lynn K. Perry & Gary Lupyan - 2017 - Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systemsinteraction Studies / Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systemsinteraction Studies 18 (3):443-464.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-05-15

Downloads
55 (#396,011)

6 months
6 (#888,477)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Sean Roberts
Harvard University
Joe Martinez
International University College