Work

Acquiring a language vs. inducing a grammar

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Standard computational models of language acquisition treat acquiring a language as a process of inducing a set of string-generating rules from a collection of linguistic data assumed to be generated by these very rules. In this paper I give theoretical and empirical arguments that such a model is radically unlike what a human language learner must do to acquire their native language. Most centrally, I argue that such models presuppose that linguistic data is directly a product of a grammar, ignoring the myriad non-grammatical systems involved in the use of language. The significance of these non-target systems in shaping the linguistic data children are exposed to undermines any simple reverse inference from linguistic data to grammatical competence.

Source: Cognition

DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105771

Author: Gabe Dupre

Institution: University of California, Davis

Language: English

Topic: Language Development and Disorders

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,770

Funder: Leverhulme Trust