iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Simon Kirby @simonkirby.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We uncovered spontaneous evolution of new languages in populations of AI agents. This creates extraordinary scientific opportunities but also safety risks. New blog post with about how we created a platform for studying this safely. www.schmidtsciences.org/glossogen/

schmidtsciences.org

AI Agents Evolve Their Own Languages

Schmidt Sciences’ new AI Agents Evolving Communication and Coordination pilot program works toward advancing foundational research on multi-agent communication and coordination, and building an open-s...

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

bastian bunzeck @bbunzeck.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

And here are some more posters that I did not get the whole spiel for 😇

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

“With same tools used to study human data & whale song, we show that culturally transmitted Bengalese finch song has statistically coherent subsequences whose distribution follows a power law. Parallels between distant species suggest that core properties of language arise via convergent evolution”🧪

science.org

Language-like statistical structure arises in learned signaling: evidence from birdsong

Tools inspired by how human infants learn speech reveal language-like statistical structure in birdsong.

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Cedric Boeckx @cedricboeckx.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Nice new work by @simonkirby.bsky.social @inbalarnon.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social @kazuookanoya.bsky.social, showing how human language recruits from general cognitive tools shared across species: “Language-like statistical structure arises in learned signaling: evidence from birdsong” 🧪

science.org

Language-like statistical structure arises in learned signaling: evidence from birdsong

Tools inspired by how human infants learn speech reveal language-like statistical structure in birdsong.

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Shira Tal, @kennysmithed.bsky.social and Jennifer Culbertson investigated this possibility using noun class systems (e.g., grammatical gender) and found that agreement may facilitate noun class generalization for children but not for adults. doi.org/10.1162/OPMI...

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

✨ New CLE paper! ✨ Why is grammatical agreement common across languages despite adding complexity to language systems? One proposed explanation is that it can benefit language learners, children in particular. ⤵️

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

New commentary by Jennifer Culbertson, @simonkirby.bsky.social & @kennysmithed.bsky.social in response to @futrell.bsky.social & @kmahowald.bsky.social 2025: #Language models do not yet achieve explanatory adequacy because language is more than incremental prediction. 🔗https://tinyurl.com/3nufv5hp

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

What are the most pressing scientific and societal issues in #Language and #Communication? Take GESDA's science anticipator survey, designed in consultation with linguists from the CLE ⬇️ tinyurl.com/yv5c9dcs #GESDA

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

🎓 Congratulations to our @maisyhallam.bsky.social for passing her viva on Tuesday! 🎓

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

School of PPLS at The University of Edinburgh @schoolofppls.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Congrats to Professor Antonella Sorace on receiving Sardinia’s Premio Sa Die! Honoured for her global research and advocacy for bilingualism and linguistic diversity—highlighting the importance of language, culture, and identity. Read more here: ppls.ed.ac.uk/sardinia-hon...

ppls.ed.ac.uk

Sardinia Honours PPLS Linguist | School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences | School of Philosophy, Psychology and language sciences

Congratulations to Professor of Developmental Linguistics, Antonella Sorace who was awarded the "Premio Sa Die" by the Assemblea Nazionale Sarda (ANS) this week.

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Ponrawee Prasertsom , Andrea Silvi, Jennifer Culbertson, Devdatt Dubhashi, Moa Johansson, @kennysmithed.bsky.social: Regularity and processing complexity in recursive numeral systems. See evolangconf.github.io/2026/proceed...

evolangconf.github.io

Evolang XVI Proceedings

Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (EVOLANG XVI)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

@mandolinguist.bsky.social, Jennifer Culbertson, @simonkirby.bsky.social: Participants in a communication game balance production effort and comprehension accuracy (but not always optimally). See evolangconf.github.io/2026/proceed...

evolangconf.github.io

Evolang XVI Proceedings

Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (EVOLANG XVI)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

One week until #Evolang2026 starts in Plovdiv! Here are some of our talks: 🧵

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

arXiv cs.CL Computation and Language @cscl-bot.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Silvi, Prasertsom, Culbertson, Dubhashi, Johansson, Smith: Evaluating the relationship between regularity and learnability in recursive numeral systems using Reinforcement Learning arxiv.org/abs/2602.21720 arxiv.org/pdf/2602.21720 arxiv.org/html/2602.21720

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

arXiv cs.CL Computation and Language @cscl-bot.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Ponrawee Prasertsom, Andrea Silvi, Jennifer Culbertson, Moa Johansson, Devdatt Dubhashi, Kenny Smith: Recursive numeral systems are highly regular and easy to process arxiv.org/abs/2510.27049 arxiv.org/pdf/2510.27049 arxiv.org/html/2510.27049

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Lucie Wolters @luciewolters.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

New paper with @inbalarnon.bsky.social and @simonkirby.bsky.social! Learnability pressures drive the emergence of core statistical properties of language–e.g. Zipf's laws–in an iterated sequence learning experiment, with learners’ RTs indicating sensitivity to the emerging sequence information.

doi.org

Cultural Transmission Promotes the Emergence of Statistical Properties That Support Language Learning

Language is passed across generations through cultural transmission. Prior experimental work, where participants reproduced sets of non-linguistic sequences in transmission chains, shows that this pr...

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Seán Roberts @seangroberts.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

I'll be presenting this work at the @uoe-cle.bsky.social in Edinburgh on the 22nd January. I look forwards to robust discussion!

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

School of PPLS at The University of Edinburgh @schoolofppls.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

The New episode of PPLS Perspectives is available now! Maisy Hallam chats with Prof. Jenny Culbertson about how #technology, #AI, and global change are reshaping the future of language — and why #linguistic diversity matters more than ever. Listen now: edin.ac/4r7axdA

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

⚠️ New paper! Why do words sound so similar? In an agent-based model + communication game, we show that production/comprehension pressures trade off to shape lexicon structure. In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

The lexicon adapts to competing communicative pressures: Explaining patterns of word similarity

Cross-linguistically, lexicons tend to be more phonetically clustered than required by the phonotactics of the language; that is, words within a langu…

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Richard Blythe @dralgernon.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Interacting agents can create shared communication systems without ever knowing if signals are successfully received. The conventionalisation process involves a curious interaction between joint attention and individual behavioural differences. doi.org/10.1371/jour.... Work with Casimir Fisch.

doi.org

Exploiting individual differences to bootstrap communication

Author summary A fundamental question in the field of language evolution is how a communication system can emerge in a population that is initially unable to communicate. One theory is that human comm...

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Late bilinguals whose L1 allows subject omission tend to be more explicit in reference: they use more overt pronouns and full NPs than null pronouns? Why is that? We test two hypotheses (a desire to avoid ambiguity or ease processing) using online eye-tracking. (16/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Yajun Liu, Antonella Sorace, @kennysmithed.bsky.social: Do bilinguals avoid ambiguity? An experimental study of lexical ambiguity in spoken Mandarin (Poster Session 2, P2-L-114, 1 August @ 10:30). Poster here: tinyurl.com/mr288rn8 blurb below 👇 (15/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Bilingual experience may influence native speakers’ choice of referring expressions. We explore the impact of Crosslinguistic influence on reference production when both languages permit subject drop yet differ typologically. (14/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Yajun Liu, Antonella Sorace, @kennysmithed.bsky.social: Beyond Crosslinguistic Influence: Mandarin Speakers with Exposure to Null-subject Languages Nonetheless Use Fewer Null Pronouns in Mandarin (Talk 12: Lang 2, 31 Jul @ 14:59). Blurb below 👇 (13/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Semi-compositional language like “kick the habit” takes longer for humans to process than both fully-compositional AND fully-idiomatic units! Also, a memory model with sBERT embeddings fails more on the same items. What's so special about these units? (1/2) 👇

edin.ac

What does memory retrieval leave on the table? Modelling the Cost...

Despite being ubiquitous in natural language, collocations (e.g., kick+habit) incur a unique processing cost, compared to compositional phrases (kick+door) and idioms (kick+bucket). We confirm this...

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Different ML datasets use wildly different definitions of “systematic generalization”. To REALLY tell how well a model generalizes, we must look for systematicity of the model's representations. (1/2) 👇

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

🧠 Check out our #CogSci2025 poster examining why languages avoid words like “peeb” or “gok”? Our study found that people struggle to recognise words where consonants share the same place of articulation. This processing cost could contribute to why such words are rare across languages 🌏 (12/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Annie Holtz @anniesotropic.bsky.social, @kennysmithed.bsky.social, Mitsuhiko Ota: The Impact of Similar Place Avoidance on Novel Word Learning in Adults (Virtual Poster Session 1, V1-H-87, 31 Jul @ 12:00). Poster here: tinyurl.com/bdf9zrsc blurb below 👇 (11/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

RSA succeeds in explaining phenomena in language use, but it oddly predicts a preference for ambiguous costly words in learning. We test this surprising prediction using artificial word learning and lexicon rating tasks. (10/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Ponrawee Prasertsom, @kennysmithed.bsky.social, Jennifer Culbertson: Testing counterintuitive predictions about cost-based inferences in learning from the Rational Speech Act model (Poster Session 1; P1-P-159, 31 July @ 14:15). Poster here: tinyurl.com/3uxd7krp blurb below 👇 (9/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Languages differ dramatically in how they categorise family members - what drives this semantic variation? For 1215 languages, our computational model reveals a hierarchy of semantic features for kinship, suggesting that kin term semantics are optimised for efficient communication. (8/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

@maisyhallam.bsky.social, Fiona Jordan, @simonkirby.bsky.social, @kennysmithed.bsky.social: Efficient communication drives the semantic structure of kinship terminology (Poster session 3, P3-H-71, 2 Aug @ 13:00) poster here: tinyurl.com/42fup6cm blurb below 👇 (7/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Using Artificial language learning, we test whether people of different neurotypes accommodate differently to each other, and whether this impacts long-term regularisation. (6/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Lauren Fletcher @leffletcher.bsky.social, Jennifer Culbertson, Hugh Rabagliati: Neuro-identity mixing impacts linguistic accommodation and regularisation: evidence from autistic and allistic interactions (Talks 3: Language 1, 31 Jul @ 10:52) blurb below 👇 (5/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Shira Tal, Benedek Bartha, Jennifer Culbertson: Developmental evidence for sensitivity to hierarchical structure in the noun phrase (Talks 13: Language and Development 1, 31 July @ 14:37): Do children show a preference for typologically common NP order? We use 'iconic ALL' to find out... (4/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Previous CLE research shows that learning AND communication are necessary for evolving efficient languages...but IB models suggest that efficient systems may emerge in IL experiments without both! (3/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Nathaniel Imel, Jennifer Culbertson, @simonkirby.bsky.social & @nogazs.bsky.social: Iterated language learning is shaped by a drive for optimizing lossy compression (Talks 37: Language and Computation 3, 1 August @ 16:22; blurb below) (2/)

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Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Less than 3 weeks to go until #CogSci2025! Here is some of the work that members of the CLE will be presenting 🧵(1/)

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Michael Pleyer @symbolicstorage.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Really awesome study by ‪@kennysmithed.bsky.social‬‬, Josephine Bowerman & @andrewdmsmith.bsky.social out now in Cognition: Semantic extension in a novel communication system is facilitated by salient shared associations www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Semantic extension in a novel communication system is facilitated by salient shared associations

Creative processes of semantic extension play a key role in language change, grammaticalisation, and (by hypothesis) the early origins and evolution o…

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Inbal Arnon @inbalarnon.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Some happy science news (a small light in times of darkness). New paper out with @luciewolters.bsky.social and Mits Ota: : Skewed distributions facilitate infants’ word segmentation. sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Skewed distributions facilitate infants' word segmentation

Infants can use statistical patterns to segment continuous speech into words, a crucial task in language acquisition. Experimental studies typically i…

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Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution

Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Introducing Dr Keogh! 🎓 Very emotional to have finally closed the chapter on my time at the @uoe-cle.bsky.social 😭 but glad to have passed this milestone in the company of my wonderful supervisors @simonkirby.bsky.social and Jenny Culbertson, and my PhD twin Elizabeth Pankratz. We made it! #PhDone

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