Centre for Language Evolution
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The aim of the centre's research is to understand the origins and evolution of language using a combination of laboratory techniques, computational simulation, and mathematical modelling, drawing on data from language development, change, variation and emergence.
Image: Detail from "EX03_sewingmachine_typical_212A.mov" CC-BY Motamedi, Yasamin. (2017). Example videos from Motamedi-Mousavi (2017). Artificial sign language learning: a method for evolutionary linguistics., [dataset]. University of Edinburgh. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/1693.
Collections in this community
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Gesture experiments
communication of concepts and events using gesture -
Interaction Experiments
This collection contains data from behavioural experiments involving interaction between two or more participants using an artificial language.
Recent Submissions
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The emergence of word order conventions: improvisation, interaction and transmission
We present an experimental paradigm in which initially-improvised silent gesture is both used for communication and culturally transmitted through artificial generations of lab participants. In experiments 1 and ... -
The emergence of systematic argument distinctions in artificial sign languages (dataset)
The video data stored in this repository are from a lab-based experiment in which hearing English speaking participants were asked to communicate with a partner using only gesture. Participants took part in pairs, and were ... -
Data from Culbertson et al. (2019) Children’s sensitivity to phonological and semantic cues during noun class learning
Data from Culbertson, J., Jarvinen, H., Haggarty, F., and Smith, K. (2019). Children’s sensitivity to phonological and semantic cues during noun class learning: Evidence for a phonological bias. Language, 95(2):268–293. -
Data reported in Jasmeen Kanwal's PhD Thesis Chapter 3
This is data from the two experiments reported in Chapter 3 ("Word length and predictability in context") of my University of Edinburgh PhD thesis (https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/33051). The experiments are also ... -
The noun-verb distinction in silent gesture
This dataset comprises data collected in a silent gesture experiment, where participants where asked to communicate events using only gesture. Pairs of participants took part in the study in 3 stages. In stage 1, participants ... -
Evolving artificial sign languages in the lab: from improvised gesture to systematic sign (dataset)
This dataset comprises videos recorded for an artificial language learning study in the manual modality. Three experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, pairs of participants communicated about a set of concepts using ... -
Data from "Simplifying linguistic complexity: Culture and cognition in language evolution", PhD dissertation
Files containing the set of experimental data discussed in Carmen Saldana's doctoral thesis: "Simplifying linguistic complexity: Culture and cognition in language evolution". You will find the data files corresponding to ... -
Data from "Language learners privilege structured meaning over surface frequency"
Although it is widely agreed that learning the syntax of natural languages involves acquiring structure-dependent rules, recent work on acquisition has nevertheless attempted to characterize the outcome of learning primarily ... -
Data for Feher, Wonnacott & Smith (2016), Structural priming in artificial languages and the regularisation of unpredictable variation.
This data set contains data for a study that presented a novel experimental technique using artificial language learning to investigate the relationship between structural priming during communicative interaction, and ... -
Data from the paper "Zipf's Law of Abbreviation and the Principle of Least Effort: Language users optimise a miniature lexicon for efficient communication"
This is the full set of experimental data described in the paper: "Zipf's Law of Abbreviation and the Principle of Least Effort: Language users optimise a miniature lexicon for efficient communication" (2017), by Jasmeen ... -
Example videos from Motamedi-Mousavi (2017). Artificial sign language learning: a method for evolutionary linguistics.
This data set contains example videos from the experiments discussed in Yasamin Motamedi's doctoral thesis: "Artificial sign language learning: a method for evolutionary linguistics". The videos correspond to three main ... -
Artificial languages created through iterated learning experiments by Kirby, Cornish & Smith (2008) and Cornish (2011).
This spreadsheet contains data from Hannah Cornish's PhD thesis: "Language Adapts: exploring the cultural dynamics of iterated learning", University of Edinburgh, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5603 Tables 1-A, 1-B, ...
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