Across the globe, humanity flourishes by sharing thoughts, culture, information and technology through language – an incredibly complex method of communication shared with no other species on Earth. Languages themselves are dynamic systems which evolve through the introduction of new words and conventions by their users. These innovations are transmitted to other users during communication and then onwards to new generations of speakers during learning, ultimately changing the linguistic system over time. However, not all innovations are equally likely to be transmitted; those which better fit the needs of the language learner and user might be more readily passed on. In this workshop we will introduce the scientific study of language evolution through a series of «artificial grammar learning» games, exploring how different innovations are transmitted according to their suitability for language learning and use. We will further explore how this suitability is dependent on the processing capacities of learners and users, and how determining the extent to which these capabilities are shared by our sister primate species, or are instead uniquely human, can shed light on the evolutionary journey that led us to language.

Across the globe, humanity flourishes by sharing thoughts, culture, information and technology through language – an incredibly complex method of communication shared with no other species on Earth. Languages themselves are dynamic systems which evolve through the introduction of new words and conventions by their users. These innovations are transmitted to other users during communication and then onwards to new generations of speakers during learning, ultimately changing the linguistic system over time. However, not all innovations are equally likely to be transmitted; those which better fit the needs of the language learner and user might be more readily passed on. In this workshop we will introduce the scientific study of language evolution through a series of «artificial grammar learning» games, exploring how different innovations are transmitted according to their suitability for language learning and use. We will further explore how this suitability is dependent on the processing capacities of learners and users, and how determining the extent to which these capabilities are shared by our sister primate species, or are instead uniquely human, can shed light on the evolutionary journey that led us to language.