The emergence of compositional grammars in artificial codes

Fuhai Hong, Wooyoung Lim and Xiaojian Zhao

Games and Economic Behavior, 2017, vol. 102, issue C, 255-268

Abstract: This paper experimentally explores how compositional grammars in artificial codes emerge and are sustained. In a communication game with no conflict of interest, the sender sends a message that is an arbitrary string from available symbols with no prior meaning to indicate an abstract geometrical figure to the receiver. We find strong evidence from the laboratory for the emergence of compositional grammars in the subjects' common codes that facilitate learning efficiency. Moreover, when there is a scarcity of symbols in the repertoire, a few groups in our experiments developed languages with positional compositionality, meaning the same symbol has different interpretations depending on its position in a string, whereas some other groups developed language structures that are not compositional but still efficient in communication.

Keywords: Communication games; Economics of language; Experimental semiotics; Compositional grammar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C92 D03 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:102:y:2017:i:c:p:255-268

DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2016.12.009

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