Journal
JOURNAL OF PHONETICS
Volume 28, Issue 4, Pages 441-465Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD
DOI: 10.1006/jpho.2000.0125
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This paper presents a computer simulation of the emergence of vowel systems in a population of agents. The agents (small computer programs that operate autonomously) are equipped with a realistic articulatory synthesizer, a model of human perception and the ability to imitate and learn sounds they hear. It is shown that due to the interactions between the agents and due to self-organization, realistic vowel repertoires emerge. This happens under a large number of different parameter settings and therefore seems to be a very robust phenomenon. The emerged vowel systems show remarkable similarities with the vowel systems found in human languages. It is argued that self-organization probably plays an important role in determining the vowel inventories of human languages and that innate predispositions are probably not necessary to explain the universal tendencies of human vowel systems. (C) 2000 Academic Press.
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