Knowledge and Learning in Natural Language

by Yang, Charles D.

• ISBN13: 9780199254149
• ISBN10: 0199254141
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This title includes the following features: Throws fresh light on howchildren acquire language.; Provides conclusive evidence of an innate humanlanguage faculty.; Shows how language learning leads to language change.

Author Biography

Charles Yang has been teaching computational linguistics and language acquisition at Yale since receiving his Ph.D. in computer science at MIT.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
The Study of Language and Language Acquisition	1	(13)
The naturalistic approach to language	1	(3)
The structure of language acquisition	4	(8)
Formal sufficiency	5	(1)
Developmental compatibility	6	(3)
Explanatory continuity	9	(3)
A road map	12	(2)
A Variational Model of Language Acquisition	14	(45)
Against transformational learning	15	(9)
Formal insufficiency of the triggering model	18	(2)
Developmental incompatibility of the triggering model	20	(2)
Imperfection in child language?	22	(2)
The variational approach to language acquisition	24	(6)
The dynamics of Darwinian evolution	24	(2)
Language acquisition as grammar competition	26	(4)
The dynamics of variational learning	30	(6)
Asymptotic behaviors	30	(2)
Stable multiple grammars	32	(2)
Unambiguous evidence	34	(2)
Learning grammars in a parametric space	36	(17)
Parameter interference	36	(3)
Independent parameters and signatures	39	(2)
Interference avoidance models	41	(2)
Naive parameter learning	43	(5)
Learning rates and random walks	48	(5)
Related approaches	53	(6)
Appendix A: Fitness distribution in a three-parameter space	55	(4)
Rules over Words	59	(42)
Background	59	(3)
A model of rule competition	62	(13)
A simple learning task	63	(1)
Rules	64	(4)
Rule competition	68	(5)
The Absolute and Stochastic Blocking Principles	73	(2)
Words vs. rules in overregularization	75	(8)
The mechanics of the WR model	75	(2)
The data	77	(1)
Frequency hierarchy in verb classes	78	(2)
The free-rider effect	80	(2)
The effect of phonological regularity: vowel shortening	82	(1)
Analogy, regularity, and rules	83	(6)
The failure of analogy	83	(4)
Partial regularity and history	87	(2)
Some purported evidence for the WR model	89	(8)
Error rate	89	(2)
The role of input frequency	91	(1)
The postulation of the -d rule	92	(1)
Gradual improvement	93	(1)
Children's judgement	94	(1)
Anecdotal evidence	94	(1)
Adult overregularization	95	(1)
Indecisive verbs	95	(1)
Irregulars over time	96	(1)
Corpus statistics	96	(1)
Conclusion	97	(4)
Appendix B: The rule system for English past tense	97	(1)
Appendix C: Overregularization errors in children	98	(3)
Grammar Competition in Children's Syntax	101	(24)
Learning three parameters	102	(7)
Verb raising and subject drop: the baselines	103	(2)
V1 in V2 learners	105	(4)
Quantifying the stimulus poverty argument	109	(5)
The nature of null subjects in children	114	(9)
The early acquisition of Chinese and Italian subject drop	116	(2)
English children speak Chinese	118	(5)
Summary	123	(2)
The Dynamics of Language Change	125	(20)
Grammar competition and language change	127	(7)
The role of linguistic evidence	127	(2)
A variational model of language change	129	(5)
The loss of V2 in French	134	(4)
The erosion of V2 in Middle English	138	(5)
Word order in Old English	138	(1)
The southern dialect	139	(2)
The northern dialect and language contact	141	(2)
Limitations of the model	143	(2)
Summary	145	(8)
Knowledge and learning	146	(4)
Principles and variations	150	(3)
References	153	(14)
Index of Authors	167	(4)
Subject Index	171