Collaborative meaning-making: the emergence of novel languages in humans, machines, and human-machine interactions

Kouwenhoven, T. (2025)

Doctoral Thesis

Humans share meaning through language. Over time, repeated interactions have shaped languages into forms that match our cognitive preferences, making them structured, expressive, easy to learn, and ultimately, meaningful. Today, large language models as artificial minds have become proficient new language users too. Though they differ from humans in key respects, they use languages in ways that increasingly mirror the dynamics of human communication. By studying both humans and artificial models of language in interactive experimental setups, this dissertation aims to uncover how these different kinds of minds create, adapt, and share meaning.

• Language Evolution
• Large Language Models
• Meaning-Making
• Human-Machine Collaboration
• Grounding

• All authors: Kouwenhoven, T.
• Supervisor: Raaijmakers, S.A.
• Co-supervisor: Verhoef, T.; Kleijn, R.E. de
• Committee: Bonsangue, M.M.; Batenburg, K.J.; Lupyan, G.; Verbrugge, R.; Galke, L.P.A.; Poletiek, F.H
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Faculty of Science, Leiden University
• Date: 2025-10-30
• Title of host publication: SIKS Dissertation Series
• DOI: doi:Collaborative meaning-making
• Name: 2025-47