Grice in the Grammar: How Dynamic Social Networks Give Rise to - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Grice in the Grammar: How Dynamic Social Networks Give Rise to Honesty and Evidentials GURT 2014 Christopher Ahern University of Pennsylvania March 16, 2014 Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 1 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion [Grice(1975)] Maxim of Quality Try to make your contribution one that is true: Do not say what you believe to be false. 1 Do not say that for which you lack evidence. 2 Cooperative Principle Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purposes or direction of the talk exchange. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 2 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion [Grice(1975)] I am, however, enough of a rationalist to want to find a basis that underlies these facts, undeniable though they may be; I would like to be able to think of the standard type of conversational practice not merely as something that all or most do in fact follow but as something that it is reasonable for us to follow, that we should not abandon. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 3 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Questions Why abide by the Maxim of Quality and the Cooperative Principle? What consequences for the structure of language? Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 4 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Outline Honesty 1 Networks 2 Language 3 Conclusion 4 Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 5 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Cooperation [Nowak(2006)] Cooperation means that selfish replicators forgo some of their reproductive potential to help one another. But natural selection implies competition and therefore opposes cooperation unless a specific mechanism is at work. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 6 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Cooperation Prisoner’s Dilemma Cooperate Defect Cooperate b − c , b − c − c , b Defect b , − c 0,0 Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 7 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Cooperation Prisoner’s Dilemma Cooperate Defect Cooperate 5, 5 − 5, 10 Defect 10, − 5 0,0 Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 8 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Signaling [Searcy and Nowicki(2005)] One might expect many instances in which signalers would attempt to profit individually by conveying dishonest information. ...if dishonesty is common, it also is not obvious why receivers should respond to signals. ...if receivers fail to respond to signals, it is not obvious how signaling systems can exist at all. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 9 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Mechanisms [Mencken(1949)] Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 10 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Mechanisms [Scott-Phillips(2008)] Indices: signal form is tied to meaning 1 Handicaps: costs borne by honest senders 2 Deterrents: costs borne by dishonest senders 3 Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 11 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Mechanisms [Reby and McComb(2003)] Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 12 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Mechanisms [Zahavi(1975)] [Grafen(1990)] [Spence(1973)] Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 13 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Each agent has rate of 1 cooperation, θ ∈ [ 0 , 1 ] Agents interact, update strength 2 of relationship Relationships below threshold are 3 removed Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 14 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 15 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations [Apicella et al.(2012)Apicella, Marlowe, Fowler, and Christakis] Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 16 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations [Apicella et al.(2012)Apicella, Marlowe, Fowler, and Christakis] Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 17 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations Iterated Information Sharing Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 18 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations Iterated Information Sharing Agents have information about 1 state of the world, τ ∈ [ 0 , 1 ] Agents choose to share 2 information, θ ∈ [ 0 , 1 ] Agents update strength of 3 relationship according to reliability Relationships below threshold are 4 removed Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 19 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Simulations Iterated Information Sharing Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 20 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Again [Grice(1975)] Maxim of Quality Try to make your contribution one that is true: Do not say what you believe to be false. 1 Do not say that for which you lack evidence. 2 Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 21 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Again [Grice(1975)] Cooperative Principle Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purposes or direction of the talk exchange. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 22 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Division [Lakoff(1973)] Hedging A robin is sort of a bird. A penguin is sort of a bird. A bat is sort of a bird. A cow is sort of a bird. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 23 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Division [Davis et al.(2007)Davis, Potts, and Speas] Quality Threshold [Potts(2007)] An utterance U by speaker S in context C satisfies quality iff its quality rating, µ C ( U ) , is above the quality threshold C τ for C . Evidentials, Modals, Hedges Speakers can signal quality threshold they expect an utterance to be evaluated by. Conventionally implicate commitment to some different quality threshold C τ ′ . Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 24 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Division [Horn(1984)] Division of Pragmatic Labor Unmarked form associated with more frequent meaning Marked form associated with less frequent meaning Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 25 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Evidentials WALS [Dryer and Haspelmath(2013)] Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 26 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Evidentials WALS [Dryer and Haspelmath(2013)] Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 27 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Questions Questions Why abide by the Maxim of Quality and the Cooperative Principle? Maintenance of relationships and standing Still allows room for varying thresholds What consequences for the structure of language? Pragmatic pressures shape linguistic structure Yesterday’s pragmatics is today’s morphosyntax! Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 28 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions Future Directions Theoretical Richer notions of interactions Broader definition of information Empirical Controlled testing of use Cross-linguistic comparisons Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 29 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions Thanks! Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 30 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions Bibliography I Coren L. Apicella, Frank W. Marlowe, James H. Fowler, and Nicholas A. Christakis. Social networks and cooperation in hunter-gatherers. Nature , 481(7382):497–501, 2012. Christopher Davis, Christopher Potts, and Margaret Speas. The pragmatic values of evidential sentences. In Proceedings of SALT , volume 17, pages 71–88, 2007. Matthew S. Dryer and Martin Haspelmath, editors. WALS Online . Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, 2013. URL http://wals.info/ . Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 31 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions Bibliography II A. Grafen. Biological signals as handicaps. Journal of theoretical biology , 144(4):517–546, 1990. H.P. Grice. Logic and conversation. In Studies in the Way of Words , pages 22–40. Harvard University Press, 1975. L. Horn. Towards a new taxonomy for pragmatic inference: Q-based and R-based implicature. In D. Schiffrin, editor, Meaning, form, and use in context , volume 42, pages 11–42. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1984. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 32 / 36

Honesty Networks Language Conclusion Future Directions Bibliography III G. Lakoff. Hedges: A study in meaning criteria and the logic of fuzzy concepts. Journal of philosophical logic , 2(4):458–508, 1973. H.L. Mencken. A Mencken Chrestomathy . Vintage, 1949. Martin A. Nowak. Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation. Science , 314(5805):1560–1563, 2006. Ahern (UPENN) Grice in the Grammar March 16, 2014 33 / 36