The regularization of linguistic structures by learners has played a key role in arguments for strong innate constraints on language acquisition, and has important implications for language evolution. However, relating the inductive biases of learners to regularization behavior in laboratory tasks can be challenging without a formal model. In this…

The ability to explain the occurrence of errors in children's speech is an essential component of successful theories of language acquisition. The present study tested some generativist and constructivist predictions about error on the questions produced by ten English-learning children between 2 and 5 years of age. The analyses demonstrated that,…

An essential part of the human capacity for language is the ability to link conceptual or semantic representations with syntactic representations. On the basis of data from spontaneous production, Tomasello (2000) suggested that young children acquire such links on a verb-by-verb basis, with little in the way of a general understanding of…

Presents a computational study of children's acquisition of word-to-meaning mappings, approximates this task as a mathematical problem, and presents an algorithm for solving the problem, illustrating the algorithm's operation on a small example. Notes that computational simulations demonstrated the robustness of the algorithm and illustrated how…

Proposes a model for explaining constraints imposed by predicates on selecting arguments appropriate for the predicates. The model has two components, a taxonomic representation of concepts and probabilistic formalization of selectional constraints defined in terms of that taxonomy. Describes four computational experiments testing the model's…

Shows how to characterize language learning in a finite parameter space, such as in the "principles-and-parameters" approach, as a Markov structure. Explains how sample complexity varies with input distributions and learning regimes. Finds that a simple random-step algorithm always converges to the right target language and works faster than a…

This paper locates computational and behavioral studies of children's language learning in a theoretical framework; reviews four articles in this journal issue on learning word meanings and sounds and on setting grammatical parameters; highlights "autonomous bootstrapping" strategies that children use to represent uncertain linguistic…

Four- to 10-year olds viewed pictures in which all or some individuals pictured were doing something to all or some objects pictured. Children indicated which sentences, using "all" or "each" to modify the subject or object, applied to the pictures. In choosing the applicable sentence, children showed little difficulty with…

Explains distributional regularity (DR), an intuition that sound sequences occurring frequently and in multiple contexts are candidates for the lexicon. Describes study that proposed hypotheses about children's segmenting sounds using DR functions, exploiting phonotactic constraints on pronunciation, and learning word-boundary clusters. Details…

Examined capacity of 4-month olds to identify their maternal language (Catalan or Spanish) when phonologically similar languages are contrasted. Compared infants from monolingual and bilingual environments to analyze whether differences in linguistic background affect this behavioral response. Found that language discrimination is already possible…