An epistemic interpretation of bidirectional optimality based on signaling games
- To some, the relation between bidirectional optimality theory and game theory seems obvious: strong bidirectional optimality corresponds to Nash equilibrium in a strategic game (Dekker and van Rooij 2000). But in the domain of pragmatics this formally sound parallel is conceptually inadequate: the sequence of utterance and its interpretation cannot be modelled reasonably as a strategic game, because this would mean that speakers choose formulations independently of a meaning that they want to express, and that hearers choose an interpretation irrespective of an utterance that they have observed. Clearly, the sequence of utterance and interpretation requires a dynamic game model. One such model, and one that is widely studied and of manageable complexity, is a signaling game. This paper is therefore concerned with an epistemic interpretation of bidirectional optimality, both strong and weak, in terms of beliefs and strategies of players in a signaling game. In particular, I suggest that strong optimality may be regarded as a process of internal self-monitoring and that weak optimality corresponds to an iterated process of such self-monitoring. This latter process can be derived by assuming that agents act rationally to (possibly partial) beliefs in a self-monitoring opponent.
Author: | Michael Franke |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-310337 |
URL: | http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/783.html |
ISSN: | 1435-9588 |
ISSN: | 0947-7055 |
Parent Title (English): | Papers on pragmasemantics / Anton Benz & Reinhard Blutner (ed.) |
Publisher: | Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft |
Place of publication: | Berlin |
Document Type: | Part of a Book |
Language: | English |
Year of Completion: | 2009 |
Year of first Publication: | 2009 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2013/11/14 |
GND Keyword: | Evolutionstheorie; Spieltheorie; Optimalitätstheorie; Pragmatik |
Volume: | 51 |
Page Number: | 23 |
First Page: | 111 |
Last Page: | 134 |
HeBIS-PPN: | 381130177 |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 4 Sprache / 41 Linguistik / 410 Linguistik |
Sammlungen: | Linguistik |
Linguistik-Klassifikation: | Linguistik-Klassifikation: Pragmalinguistik/Kommunikationsforschung / Pragmalinguistics/Communication research |
Zeitschriften / Jahresberichte: | ZAS papers in linguistics : ZASPiL / ZASPiL 51 = Papers on pragmasemantics |
: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-306949 |
Licence (German): | Deutsches Urheberrecht |