title: Language evolution and information theory.
abstract: This paper places models of language evolution within the framework of information theory. We study how signals become associated with meaning. If there is a probability of mistaking signals for each other, then evolution leads to an error limit: increasing the number of signals does not increase the fitness of a language beyond a certain limit. This error limit can be overcome by word formation: a linear increase of the word length leads to an exponential increase of the maximum fitness. We develop a general model of word formation and demonstrate the connection between the error limit and Shannon's noisy coding theorem.
authors.affiliation: Institut for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA. plotkin@ias.edu
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Plotkin
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nowak
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D007257:Information Theory; D008037:Linguistics; D008954:Models, Biological