AUTHOR=Byun Kang-Suk , Roberts Seán G. , de Vos Connie , Zeshan Ulrike , Levinson Stephen C. 

TITLE=Distinguishing selection pressures in an evolving communication system: Evidence from color-naming in “cross signing”

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Communication

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/communication/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2022.1024340

DOI=10.3389/fcomm.2022.1024340

ISSN=2297-900X

ABSTRACT=Cross-signing – the emergence of an interlanguage between users of different sign-languages – offers a rare chance to examine the evolution of a natural communication system in real time. Here using an annotated video corpus of 340 minutes, we focus on the evolution of shared colour terms over the initial weeks of first encounters and examine the role of different selectional pressures – of frequency, content, conformity and interactional context. We show that attentional factors in interaction play a crucial role.