On the Origins of Linguistic Structure: Computational models of the evolution of language

This thesis explores a perspective for explaining the origins of linguistic structure that is based on considerations beyond the constraints of the language acquisition device. In contrast to the theory of Universal Grammar proposed by Chomsky, this perspective considers how the processes of language acquisition and use create a dynamical system that is capable of adapting linguistic structure to the inductive biases of learners. In this view it is possible to conceive of language adapting to aid its own survival: those languages that are more reliably and easily acquired will tend to persist for longer than their less easily learned counterparts. Thus, linguistic structures are seen as emergent, adaptive phenomena rather than preordained features of language