{"title":"The Predictability and Abstractness of Language: A Study in Understanding and Usage of the English Language through Probabilistic Modeling and Frequency","authors":"Revanth Sai Kosaraju, Michael Ramscar, Melody Dye","volume":42,"journal":"International Journal of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences","pagesStart":608,"pagesEnd":613,"ISSN":"1307-6892","URL":"https:\/\/publications.waset.org\/pdf\/4358","abstract":"
Accounts of language acquisition differ significantly in their treatment of the role of prediction in language learning. In particular, nativist accounts posit that probabilistic learning about words and word sequences has little to do with how children come to use language. The accuracy of this claim was examined by testing whether distributional probabilities and frequency contributed to how well 3-4 year olds repeat simple word chunks. Corresponding chunks were the same length, expressed similar content, and were all grammatically acceptable, yet the results of the study showed marked differences in performance when overall distributional frequency varied. It was found that a distributional model of language predicted the empirical findings better than a number of other models, replicating earlier findings and showing that children attend to distributional probabilities in an adult corpus. This suggested that language is more prediction-and-error based, rather than on abstract rules which nativist camps suggest.<\/p>\r\n","references":"[1] Aslin, R.N., Saffran, J.R., & Newport, E.L. (1998). Computation of\r\nconditional probability statistics by 8-month old infants. Psychological\r\nScience, 9, 321-324.\r\n[2] Bannard, C., & Matthews, D. (2008, March 3). Stored Word Sequences\r\nin Language Learning: The Effect of Familiarity on Children-s\r\nRepetition of Four-Word Combinations. Psychological Science, 19(3),\r\n241-48. doi:10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2008.02075.x\r\n[3] Chomsky, N. (1967). A Review of B. F. Skinner-s Verbal Behavior. In\r\nL. A. Jakobovits & M. S. Miron (Eds.), Readings in the Psychology of\r\nLanguage. Prentice-Hall. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.chomsky.info\/\r\narticles\/1967----.htm\r\n[4] Davies, M. (n.d.). Corpus of Contemporary American English. Retrieved\r\nAugust 14, 2009, from Brigham Young University Web site:\r\nhttp:\/\/www.americancorpus.org\/\r\n[5] Google. (2009). Retrieved August 14, 2009, from\r\nhttp:\/\/www.google.com\/\r\n[6] Levin, B. (1993). English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary\r\nInvestigation. The University of Chicago Press. Retrieved August 14,\r\n2009, from http:\/\/books.google.com\/books\r\n[7] McDonald, S., & Ramscar, M. (2001). Testing the distributional\r\nhypothesis: The influence of context on judgments of semantic\r\nsimilarity. In Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the\r\nCognitive Science Society (pp. 611-616).\r\n[8] Ramscar, M. (2002). The role of meaning in inflection: Why the past\r\ntense does not require a rule. Cognitive Psychology: 45(2), 45-94.\r\n[9] Ramscar, M., & Dye, M. (2009). Expectation and negative evidence in\r\nlanguage learning: the curious absence of mouses in adult speech.\r\nProceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science\r\nSociety. Amsterdam, Netherlands.\r\n[10] Ramscar, M., Dye, M., Witten, J., & Klein, J. (2009). Two routes to\r\ncognitive flexibility: Learning and response conflict resolution in the\r\ndimensional change card sort task. Proceedings of the 31st Meeting of\r\nthe Cognitive Science Society, Amsterdam, Netherlands.\r\n[11] Ramscar, M., Matlock, T., & Dye, M. (in press). Running down the\r\nclock: the role of expectation in our understanding of time and motion.\r\nLanguage and Cognitive Processes.\r\n[12] Ramscar, M. & Yarlett, D. (2007). Linguistic self-correction in the\r\nabsence of feedback: A new approach to the logical problem of language\r\nacquisition. Cognitive Science: 31, 927-960.\r\n[13] Ramscar, M., Yarlett, D., Dye, M., Denny, K., & Thorpe, K. (in press).\r\nFeature-Label-Order effects and their implications for symbolic learning.\r\nCognitive Science.\r\n[14] Rescorla, R.A., & Wagner, A.R. (1972). A Theory of Pavlovian\r\nConditioning: Variations in the Effectiveness of Reinforcement and\r\nNonreinforcement. In A.H. Black & W.F. Prokasy (Eds.), Classical\r\nConditioning II: Current Research and Theory (pp. 64-99). New York:\r\nAppleton-Century-Crofts.\r\n[15] Saffran, J.R., Aslin, R.N., & Newport, E.L. (1996). Statistical learning\r\nby 8-month-old infants. Science, 274, 1926-1928.\r\n[16] Yarlett, D. (2008). Language Learning Through Similarity-Based\r\nGeneralization. PhD Thesis, Stanford University.","publisher":"World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology","index":"Open Science Index 42, 2010"}