Wonnacott, Elizabeth, Newport, Elissa L. and Tanenhaus, Michael K. (2008) Acquiring and processing verb argument structure : distributional learning in a miniature language. Cognitive Psychology, Volume 56 (Number 3). pp. 165-209. doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2007.04.002 ISSN 0010-0285.

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Abstract

Adult knowledge of a language involves correctly balancing lexically-based and more language-general patterns. For example, verb argument structures may sometimes readily generalize to new verbs, yet with particular verbs may resist generalization. From the perspective of acquisition, this creates significant learnability problems, with some researchers claiming a crucial role for verb semantics in the determination of when generalization may and may not occur. Similarly, there has been debate regarding how verb-specific and more generalized constraints interact in sentence processing and on the role of semantics in this process. The current work explores these issues using artificial language learning. In three experiments using languages without semantic cues to verb distribution, we demonstrate that learners can acquire both verb-specific and verb-general patterns, based on distributional information in the linguistic input regarding each of the verbs as well as across the language as a whole. As with natural languages, these factors are shown to affect production, judgments and real-time processing. We demonstrate that learners apply a rational procedure in determining their usage of these different input statistics and conclude by suggesting that a Bayesian perspective on statistical learning may be an appropriate framework for capturing our findings.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Language acquisition, Language awareness in children, Language transfer (Language learning), Children -- Language, Grammar, Comparative and general -- Verb phrase, Verbal ability in children, Languages, Artificial -- Study and teaching
Journal or Publication Title:	Cognitive Psychology
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0010-0285
Official Date:	May 2008
Dates:	Date Event May 2008 Published
Volume:	Volume 56
Number:	Number 3
Page Range:	pp. 165-209
DOI:	10.1016/j.cogpsych.2007.04.002
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit:	23 December 2015
Date of first compliant Open Access:	23 December 2015
Funder:	National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH), Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
Grant number:	DC-00167, HD-27206 (NIH) ; PTA-026-1296 (ESRC)

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