emergent-languages.org

Overview

This site provides an introduction to the research on emergent and evolutionary languages as conducted at the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris and the AI-Lab at the VUB in Brussels. One of the principle objectives of this research is to identify the cognitive capabilities that artificial agents must posses to enable, in a population of such agents, the emergence and evolution of a language that exhibits characteristic features identified in natural languages.

The primary tools used for this research are computer simulations and robotic experiments involving computational models of a language system and a conceptual system. The language model is based on Fluid Construction Grammar, while the conceptual model is based on what we call Constraint-based Semantics. These models are implemented in Common Lisp, and together with a multi-agent experiment framework, integrated in what is called Babel2. Further details on these systems and other topics can be found through the menu next on your right side.

This research has been partially supported by the ECAGENTS project funded by the Future and Emerging Technologies programme (IST-FET) of the European Community under EU R&D contract IST-2003-1940.

Earlier work

Evolang 2008

November 16, 2007

Wouter Van den Broeck, Remi van Trijp, Joachim De Beule, Joris Bleys, Pieter Wellens and Emily Wang will all present at Evolang 2008, March 11-15, Barcelona, Spain. Pieter will talk about “Coping with combinatorial uncertainty in word learning: A flexibe usage-based model”, Joris will talk about “Expressing second order semantics and the emergence of recursion”, Wouter about “Constraint based compositional semantics”, Joachim about “Compositionality, hierarchy and recursion in language”, Emily about “Self-interested agents can bootstrap symbolic communication if they punish cheaters”, and last but not least, Remi will talk about “The emergence of semantic roles”.

Symposium on Language and Robots

Luc Steels and Wouter Van den Broeck will present at the Symposium on Language and Robots, 10-12 Dec, Aveiro, Portugal. Luc is invited speaker and will talk about “Fluid Language Games and the Emergence of Grammar”. Wouter will talk about constraint based compositional semantics.

Emergent-languages.org was lauched

May 11, 2007

A first batch of content has been published, including brief introductions to FCG, the conceptualization research, and the current range of experiments we are working on.