Phonetic Code Emergence in a Society of Speech Robots: Explaining Vowel Systems and the MUAF Principle

The purpose of this paper is to explain how it is possible to simulate the emergence of a common phonetic code in a society of speech robots using evolutionary techniques. Simulations of the prediction of vowel systems and the explanation of the Maximum Use of Available distinctive Features (MUAF) principle are discussed. These experimental results show how simple local rules of interaction between robots may explain some of the universals characteristics of the phonological structure of world's languages. On going work aiming to answer more complex questions, such as the use of supplementary features in large vowel systems, is presented