Evolving artificial sign languages in the lab: from improvised gesture to systematic sign Article Swipe

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Gesture Sign language Sign (mathematics) Key (lock) Computer science Manual communication Sign system Linguistics Communication Natural language processing Human–computer interaction Artificial intelligence Psychology Mathematics Philosophy Computer security Mathematical analysis

Yasamin Motamedi , Marieke Schouwstra , Jennifer Culbertson , Kenny Smith , Simon Kirby ·

YOU? · · 2018 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/be7qy · OA: W4243971133

Recent work on emerging sign languages provides evidence for how key properties of linguistic systems are created. Here we use laboratory experiments to investigate the contribution of two specific mechanisms– interaction and transmission–to the emergence of a manual communication system in silent gesturers. We show that the combined effects of these mechanisms, rather than either alone, lead to a gradual increase of regularity, systematic structure and communicative efficiency. The gestures initially produced by participants are unsystematic and resemble pantomime, but come to develop key language-like properties similar to those documented in newly emerging sign systems.