Department of General Systems Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo.
Cogn Sci. 2007 Feb;31(1):99-132. doi: 10.1080/03640210709336986.
An expression-induction model was used to simulate the evolution of basic color terms to test Berlin and Kay's (1969) hypothesis that the typological patterns observed in basic color term systems are produced by a process of cultural evolution under the influence of biases resulting from the special properties of universal focal colors. Ten agents were simulated, each of which could learn color term denotations by generalizing from examples using Bayesian inference, and for which universal focal red, yellow, green, and blue were especially salient, but unevenly spaced in the perceptual color space. Conversations between these agents, in which agents would learn from one another, were simulated over several generations, and the languages emerging at the end of each simulation were investigated. The proportion of color terms of each type correlated closely with the equivalent frequencies found in the World Color Survey, and most of the emergent languages could be placed on one of the evolutionary trajectories proposed by Kay and Maffi (1999). The simulation therefore demonstrates how typological patterns can emerge as a result of learning biases acting over a period of time.
采用表达诱导模型来模拟基本颜色术语的演变，以检验柏林和凯（1969）的假设，即基本颜色术语系统中观察到的类型模式是由文化进化过程产生的，这种进化过程受到普遍焦点颜色的特殊属性导致的偏差的影响。模拟了十个代理，每个代理都可以通过使用贝叶斯推理从示例中进行概括来学习颜色术语的含义，并且普遍焦点的红色、黄色、绿色和蓝色特别突出，但在感知颜色空间中不均匀分布。在几个世代中模拟了这些代理之间的对话，在每个模拟结束时研究了出现的语言。每种类型的颜色术语的比例与世界颜色调查中发现的等效频率密切相关，并且大多数新兴语言都可以归入凯和马菲（1999）提出的进化轨迹之一。因此，该模拟演示了如何由于学习偏差在一段时间内的作用而产生类型模式。
