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@misc{cogprints2658, editor = { B. Hallam, D. Floreano, J. Hallam, G. Hayes, J-A. Meyer Hallam}, title = {Phonemic Coding Might Result From Sensory-Motor Coupling Dynamics}, author = {Pierre-Yves Oudeyer}, publisher = {MIT Press}, year = {2002}, pages = {406--416}, keywords = {speech, phonemic coding, particulate speech, agents, self-organisation, regularities, discreteness, digitalness shared sound system {$\backslash$}sep production {$\backslash$}sep perception }, url = {http://cogprints.org/2658/}, abstract = {Human sound systems are invariably phonemically coded. Furthermore, phoneme inventories follow very particular tendancies. To explain these phenomena, there existed so far three kinds of approaches : ``Chomskyan''/cognitive innatism, morpho-perceptual innatism and the more recent approach of ``language as a complex cultural system which adapts under the pressure of efficient communication''. The two first approaches are clearly not satisfying, while the third, even if much more convincing, makes a lot of speculative assumptions and did not really bring answers to the question of phonemic coding. We propose here a new hypothesis based on a low-level model of sensory-motor interactions. We show that certain very simple and non language-specific neural devices allow a population of agents to build signalling systems without any functional pressure. Moreover, these systems are phonemically coded. Using a realistic vowel articulatory synthesizer, we show that the inventories of vowels have striking similarities with human vowel systems.} }