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The neglected universals: Learnability constraints and discourse cues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Heidi Waterfall  and
Shimon Edelman
Heidi Waterfall
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, and Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637. [email protected]://kybele.psych.cornell.edu/~heidi
Shimon Edelman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, and Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-713, South Korea. [email protected]://kybele.psych.cornell.edu/~edelman
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Abstract

Converging findings from English, Mandarin, and other languages suggest that observed “universals” may be algorithmic. First, computational principles behind recently developed algorithms that acquire productive constructions from raw texts or transcribed child-directed speech impose family resemblance on learnable languages. Second, child-directed speech is particularly rich in statistical (and social) cues that facilitate learning of certain types of structures.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 32 , Issue 5 , October 2009 , pp. 471 - 472
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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