scholarly journals In search of resilient and fragile properties of language

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. 64-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN GOLDIN-MEADOW
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Linguistic Input ◽  
Language Input

ABSTRACTYoung children are skilled language learners. They apply their skills to the language input they receive from their parents and, in this way, derive patterns that are statistically related to their input. But being an excellent statistical learner does not explain why children who are not exposed to usable linguistic input nevertheless communicate using systems containing the fundamental properties of language. Nor does it explain why learners sometimes alter the linguistic input to which they are exposed (input from either a natural or an artificial language). These observations suggest that children are prepared to learn language. Our task now, as it was in 1974, is to figure out what they are prepared with – to identify properties of language that are relatively easy to learn, the resilient properties, as well as properties of language that are more difficult to learn, the fragile properties. The new tools and paradigms for describing and explaining language learning that have been introduced into the field since 1974 offer great promise for accomplishing this task.

scholarly journals Compositional Hierarchical Structure Evolves through Cultural Transmission: An Experimental Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Saldana ◽  
Simon Kirby ◽  
Robert Truswell ◽  
Kenny Smith
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Compositional Structure ◽  
Evolutionary Linguistics ◽  
Artificial Language Learning ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Iterated Learning

AbstractCompositional hierarchical structure is a prerequisite for productive languages; it allows language learners to express and understand an infinity of meanings from finite sources (i.e., a lexicon and a grammar). Understanding how such structure evolved is central to evolutionary linguistics. Previous work combining artificial language learning and iterated learning techniques has shown how basic compositional structure can evolve from the trade-off between learnability and expressivity pressures at play in language transmission. In the present study we show, across two experiments, how the same mechanisms involved in the evolution of basic compositionality can also lead to the evolution of compositional hierarchical structure. We thus provide experimental evidence showing that cultural transmission allows advantages of compositional hierarchical structure in language learning and use to permeate language as a system of behaviour.

scholarly journals Can non-interactive language input benefit young second-language learners?

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
TERRY KIT-FONG AU ◽  
WINNIE WAILAN CHAN ◽  
LIAO CHENG ◽  
LINDA S. SIEGEL ◽  
RICKY VAN YIP TSO
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Second Graders ◽  
Story Reading ◽  
Linguistic Input ◽  
Children First

ABSTRACTTo fully acquire a language, especially its phonology, children need linguistic input from native speakers early on. When interaction with native speakers is not always possible – e.g. for children learning a second language that is not the societal language – audios are commonly used as an affordable substitute. But does such non-interactive input work? Two experiments evaluated the usefulness of audio storybooks in acquiring a more native-like second-language accent. Young children, first- and second-graders in Hong Kong whose native language was Cantonese Chinese, were given take-home listening assignments in a second language, either English or Putonghua Chinese. Accent ratings of the children's story reading revealed measurable benefits of non-interactive input from native speakers. The benefits were far more robust for Putonghua than English. Implications for second-language accent acquisition are discussed.

The Relationship Between Maternal Language Measures and Language Development in Toddlers With Expressive Vocabulary Delays

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Girolametto ◽  
Elaine Weitzman ◽  
Megan Wiigs ◽  
Patsy Steig Pearce
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Intervention Model ◽  
Maternal Language ◽  
Linguistic Input ◽  
Language Input ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Structural Hypothesis

This study examined the relationship between variation in maternal language and variation in language development in a group of 12 children with expressive vocabulary delays. Mothers and their children participated in a parent-mediated intervention that adhered to the interactive model of language intervention. This intervention model arises out of social interactionist accounts of language acquisition and maintains that maternal language input has facilitatory effects on child development. The purpose of this study was to examine two compatible explanations for the facilitatory effects of maternal linguistic input in this intervention model: the responsivity hypothesis and the structural hypothesis. The responsivity hypothesis maintains that linguistic input that is semantically contingent on the child’s vocal or verbal utterances, or responsive to the child’s focus, facilitates language learning. The structural hypothesis posits that structural features of maternal language input that are just one step above the child’s abilities promote language learning. The results of this study indicated robust relationships between maternal use of imitation and expansion at Time 1 and measures of child language at Time 2. These results provided support for the effects of responsive language input on the language abilities of this sample of late talkers. These results have implications for social interaction theory and confirm the import of responsive input as viable intervention techniques for young children with expressive vocabulary delays.

scholarly journals Infinite use of finite means? Evaluating the generalization of center embedding learned from an artificial grammar

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Thomas McCoy ◽  
Jennifer Culbertson ◽  
Paul Smolensky ◽  
Géraldine Legendre
Keyword(s):  
Finite Number ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Generative Capacity ◽  
Learning Biases ◽  
Artificial Language Learning ◽  
Training Sequences ◽  
Center Embedding

Human language is often assumed to make "infinite use of finite means" - that is, to generate an infinite number of possible utterances from a finite number of building blocks. From an acquisition perspective, this assumed property of language is interesting because learners must acquire their languages from a finite number of examples. To acquire an infinite language, learners must therefore generalize beyond the finite bounds of the linguistic data they have observed. In this work, we use an artificial language learning experiment to investigate whether people generalize in this way. We train participants on sequences from a simple grammar featuring center embedding, where the training sequences have at most two levels of embedding, and then evaluate whether participants accept sequences of a greater depth of embedding. We find that, when participants learn the pattern for sequences of the sizes they have observed, they also extrapolate it to sequences with a greater depth of embedding. These results support the hypothesis that the learning biases of humans favor languages with an infinite generative capacity.

scholarly journals Compositional hierarchical structure evolves through cultural transmission: an experimental study

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Saldana ◽  
Simon Kirby ◽  
Rob Truswell ◽  
Kenny Smith
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Compositional Structure ◽  
Evolutionary Linguistics ◽  
Artificial Language Learning ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Iterated Learning

Compositional hierarchical structure is a prerequisite for productive languages; it allows language learners to express and understand an infinity of meanings from finite sources (i.e., a lexicon and a grammar). Understanding how such structure evolved is central to evolutionary linguistics. Previous work combining artificial language learning and iterated learning techniques has shown how basic compositional structure can evolve from the trade-off between learnability and expressivity pressures at play in language transmission. In the present study we show, across two experiments, how the same mechanisms involved in the evolution of basic compositionality can also lead to the evolution of compositional hierarchical structure. We thus provide experimental evidence showing that cultural transmission allows advantages of compositional hierarchical structure in language learning and use to permeate language as a system of behaviour.

Features of Language Learning in Handheld Electronic Devices

2011 ◽  
Vol 63-64 ◽  
pp. 94-97
Author(s):  
Gao Da He ◽  
Hui Chen
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Input ◽  
Handheld Electronic Devices

Handheld electronic devices promote M-learning greatly. Foreign language learners favour the learning environment in handheld electronic devices. The authors explore the features of language learning in handheld electronic devices from the prospective of language input theory.The paper discusses the comprehension, nature and authenticity, abundance and varieties in language learning with handheld electronic devices.

scholarly journals Optimizing auditory input for foreign language learners through a verbotonal-based dichotic listening approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xirui Cai ◽  
Andrew Lian ◽  
Nattaya Puakpong ◽  
Yaoping Shi ◽  
Haoqiang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Hemispheric Dominance ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Input ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe quality of the physical language signals to which learners are exposed and which result in neurobiological activity leading to perception constitutes a variable that is rarely, if ever, considered in the context of language learning. It deserves some attention. The current study identifies an optimal audio language input signal for Chinese EFL/ESL learners generated by modifying the physical features of language-bearing audio signals. This is achieved by applying the principles of verbotonalism in a dichotic listening context. Low-pass filtered (320 Hz cut-off) and unfiltered speech signals were dichotically and diotically directed to each hemisphere of the brain through the contralateral ear. Temporal and spatial neural signatures for the processing of the signals were detected in a combined event-related potential (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. Results showed that the filtered stimuli in the left ear and unfiltered in the right ear (FL-R) configuration provided optimal auditory language input by actively exploiting left-hemispheric dominance for language processing and right-hemispheric dominance for melodic processing, i.e., each hemisphere was fed the signals that it should be best equipped to process—and it actually did so effectively. In addition, the filtered stimuli in the right ear and unfiltered in the left ear (L-FR) configuration was identified as entirely non-optimal for language learners. Other outcomes included significant load reduction through exposure to both-ear-filtered FL-FR signals as well as the confirmation that non-language signals were recognized by the brain as irrelevant to language and did not trigger any language processing. These various outcomes will necessarily entail further research.

What Influences Children's Conceptualizations of Language Input?

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 1613-1624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Plante ◽  
Rebecca Vance ◽  
Amanda Moody ◽  
LouAnn Gerken
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Additional Input ◽  
Language Input ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
Learning Language

Purpose Children learning language conceptualize the nature of input they receive in ways that allow them to understand and construct utterances they have never heard before. This study was designed to illuminate the types of information children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) focus on to develop their conceptualizations and whether they can rapidly shift their initial conceptualizations if provided with additional input. Method In 2 studies, preschool children with and without SLI were exposed to an artificial language, the characteristics of which allowed for various types of conceptualizations about its fundamental properties. After being familiarized with the language, children were asked to judge test strings that conformed to the input in 1 of 4 different ways. Results All children preferred test items that reflected a narrow conceptualization of the input (i.e., items most like those heard during familiarization). Children showed a strong preference for phonology as a defining property of the artificial language. Restructuring the input to the child could induce them to track word order information as well. Conclusion Children tend toward narrow conceptualizations of language input, but the nature of their conceptualizations can be influenced by the nature of the input they receive.

Domain generalisation in artificial language learning

Phonology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Myers ◽  
Jaye Padgett
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Artificial Language Learning ◽  
Distributional Patterns

Many languages have restrictions on word-final segments, such as a requirement that any word-final obstruent be voiceless. There is a phonetic basis for such restrictions at the ends of utterances, but not the ends of words. Historical linguists have long noted this mismatch, and have attributed it to an analogical generalisation of such restrictions from utterance-final to word-final position. To test whether language learners actually generalise in this way, two artificial language learning experiments were conducted. Participants heard nonsense utterances in which there was a restriction on utterance-final obstruents, but in which no information was available about word-final utterance-medial obstruents. They were then tested on utterances that included obstruents in both positions. They learned the pattern and generalised it to word-final utterance-medial position, confirming that learners are biased toward word-based distributional patterns.

scholarly journals Is regularisation uniform across linguistic levels? Comparing learning and production of unconditioned probabilistic variation in morphology and word order.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Saldana ◽  
Kenny Smith ◽  
Simon Kirby ◽  
Jennifer Culbertson
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Morphological Variation ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
Artificial Language Learning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Natural Language Learning

Languages exhibit variation at all linguistic levels, from phonology, to the lexicon, to syntax. Importantly, that variation tends to be (at least partially) conditioned on some aspect of the social or linguistic context. When variation is unconditioned, language learners regularise it—removing some or all variants, or conditioning variant use on context. Previous studies using artificial language learning experiments have documented regularising behaviour in learning of lexical, morphological, and syntactic variation. These studies implicitly assume that regularisation reflects uniform mechanisms and processes across linguistic levels. However, studies on natural language learning and pidginisation suggest that morphological and syntactic variation may be treated differently. In particular, there is evidence that morphological variation may be more susceptible to regularisation (Good 2015;Siegel 2006; Slobin 1986). Here we provide the first systematic comparison of the strength of regularisation across these two linguistic levels. In line with previous studies, we find that the presence of a favoured variant can induce different degrees of regularisation. However, when input languages are carefully matched—with comparable initial variability, and no variant-specific biases—regularisation can be comparable across morphology and word order. This is the case regard-less of whether the task is explicitly communicative. Overall, our findings suggest an overarching regularising mechanism at work, with apparent differences among levels likely due to differences in inherent complexity or variant-specific biases. Differences between production and encoding in our tasks further suggests this overarching mechanism is driven by production

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