Language dynamics is a rapidly growing field that focuses on all processes related to the evolution, emergence, change, competition and extinction of languages. One of the major outcomes from this field of research is that language can be viewed as a complex adaptive dynamical system that evolves through the process of self-organization and self-regulation. According to this viewpoint, a community of language users can be seen as a dynamical system that collectively solves the problem of developing a shared communication framework through the back-and-forth signaling between the participating individuals.
Our group is interested in the interaction of the cognitive and socio-cultural factors that play a key role in language dynamics with a special focus on how a population develops a shared set of names (Naming Game), categories (Category Game), or rules (Rule Dynamics) from scratch. The basic framework is grounded in theories of Language Games, but frequently borrows concepts and methods from the areas of statistical physics and complex systems science. These areas have proven to be extremely powerful in providing various quantitative insights into language emergence and evolution.
2006 |
Baronchelli, Aandrea; Loreto, Vittorio Ring structures and mean field passage time in networks (Journal Article) PHYSICAL REVIEW E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS, 73 , pp. 026103–026109, 2006. (Links | BibTeX) @article{b,
title = {Ring structures and mean field passage time in networks},
author = {Aandrea Baronchelli and Vittorio Loreto},
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year = {2006},
date = {2006-01-01},
journal = {PHYSICAL REVIEW E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS},
volume = {73},
pages = {026103--026109},
publisher = {AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC, ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, USA, MD, 20740-3844},
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|
Baronchelli, Andrea; Felici, Maddalena; Loreto, Vittorio; Caglioti, Emanuele; Steels, Luc Sharp transition towards shared vocabularies in multi-agent systems (Journal Article) JOURNAL OF STATISTICAL MECHANICS: THEORY AND EXPERIMENT, P06014 , pp. P06014–P06019, 2006. (Abstract | Links | BibTeX) @article{b,
title = {Sharp transition towards shared vocabularies in multi-agent systems},
author = {Andrea Baronchelli and Maddalena Felici and Vittorio Loreto and Emanuele Caglioti and Luc Steels},
url = {http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-42749102031&partnerID=65&md5=0d19c9fc9b115fd59f34ab6aa076a560
http://samarcanda.phys.uniroma1.it/vittorioloreto/PAPERS/2006/Baronchelli_JourStatMech_2006.pdf},
year = {2006},
date = {2006-01-01},
journal = {JOURNAL OF STATISTICAL MECHANICS: THEORY AND EXPERIMENT},
volume = {P06014},
pages = {P06014--P06019},
abstract = {What processes can explain how very large populations are able to converge on the use of a particular word or grammatical construction without global coordination? Answering this question helps to understand why new language constructs usually propagate along an S-shaped curve with a rather sudden transition towards global agreement. It also helps to analyse and design new technologies that support or orchestrate self-organizing communication systems, such as recent social tagging systems for the web. The article introduces and studies a microscopic model of communicating autonomous agents performing language games without any central control. We show that the system undergoes a disorder/order transition, going through a sharp symmetry breaking process to reach a shared set of conventions. Before the transition, the system builds up non-trivial scale-invariant correlations, for instance in the distribution of competing synonyms, which display a Zipf-like law. These correlations make the system ready for the transition towards shared conventions, which, observed on the timescale of collective behaviours, becomes sharper and sharper with system size. This surprising result not only explains why human language can scale up to very large populations but also suggests ways to optimize artificial semiotic dynamics.},
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pubstate = {published},
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What processes can explain how very large populations are able to converge on the use of a particular word or grammatical construction without global coordination? Answering this question helps to understand why new language constructs usually propagate along an S-shaped curve with a rather sudden transition towards global agreement. It also helps to analyse and design new technologies that support or orchestrate self-organizing communication systems, such as recent social tagging systems for the web. The article introduces and studies a microscopic model of communicating autonomous agents performing language games without any central control. We show that the system undergoes a disorder/order transition, going through a sharp symmetry breaking process to reach a shared set of conventions. Before the transition, the system builds up non-trivial scale-invariant correlations, for instance in the distribution of competing synonyms, which display a Zipf-like law. These correlations make the system ready for the transition towards shared conventions, which, observed on the timescale of collective behaviours, becomes sharper and sharper with system size. This surprising result not only explains why human language can scale up to very large populations but also suggests ways to optimize artificial semiotic dynamics. |
Baronchelli, Andrea; Dall'Asta, Luca; Barrat, Alain; Loreto, Vittorio Topology induced coarsening in language games (Journal Article) PHYSICAL REVIEW E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS, 73 , pp. 015102–015105, 2006. (Links | BibTeX) @article{b,
title = {Topology induced coarsening in language games},
author = {Andrea Baronchelli and Luca Dall'Asta and Alain Barrat and Vittorio Loreto},
url = {http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-32844475670&partnerID=65&md5=1c3b97e4d519590a2e5dd017a0da5ea9
http://samarcanda.phys.uniroma1.it/vittorioloreto/PAPERS/2006/Baronchelli_PhysRevE_2006.pdf},
year = {2006},
date = {2006-01-01},
journal = {PHYSICAL REVIEW E, STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR, AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS},
volume = {73},
pages = {015102--015105},
publisher = {AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC, ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, USA, MD, 20740-3844},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
|
Canettieri, Paolo; Loreto, Vittorio; Rovetta, Marta; Santini, Giovanna Philology and information theory: towards an integrated approach (Incollection) Philippe Baret Andrea Bozzi, Caroline Mace'(Eds.) (Ed.): Textual criticism and genetics, 2006. (BibTeX) @incollection{b,
title = {Philology and information theory: towards an integrated approach},
author = {Paolo Canettieri and Vittorio Loreto and Marta Rovetta and Giovanna Santini},
editor = {Philippe Baret, Andrea Bozzi, Caroline Mace'(Eds.)},
year = {2006},
date = {2006-01-01},
booktitle = {Textual criticism and genetics},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
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|
Baronchelli, Andrea; Dall'Asta, Luca; Barrat, Alain; Loreto, Vittorio Strategies for fast convergence in semiotic dynamics (Inproceeding) et al., Rocha (Ed.): Proceeding of the Artificial Life X Conference, pp. 480–485, 2006. (BibTeX) @inproceedings{Baronchelli2006,
title = {Strategies for fast convergence in semiotic dynamics},
author = {Andrea Baronchelli and Luca Dall'Asta and Alain Barrat and Vittorio Loreto},
editor = {L. M. Rocha et al.},
year = {2006},
date = {2006-01-01},
booktitle = {Proceeding of the Artificial Life X Conference},
pages = {480--485},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
|
