may 7, 2003university of amsterdam1 markedness in acquisition is there evidence for innate...
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May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam1
Markedness in Acquisition
• Is there evidence for innate markedness-based bias in language processing?
• Look to see whether young infants are sensitive to markedness before they’ve had sufficient relevant experience
• Before 6 months, infants have not shown sensitivity to language-particular phonotactics
May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam2
Experimental Exploration
of the Initial StateCollaborators:
Peter Jusczyk Theresa AlloccoLanguage Acquisition, 2002
Karen Arnold Elliott Moretonin progress
Grammar at 4.5 months?
May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam3
The Initial State
OT-general: MARKEDNESS ≫ FAITHFULNESS
Learnability demands (Richness of the Base)(Alan Prince, p.c., ’93; Smolensky
’96a)
Child production: restricted to the unmarked Child comprehension: not so restricted
(Smolensky ’96b)
May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam4
Testing the Initial State• Linking hypothesis: More harmonic phonological stimuli
⇒ Longer listening time • More harmonic:
M ≻ *M, when equal on F F ≻ *F, when equal on M– When must choose one or the other,
more harmonic to satisfy M: M ≫ F
• M = Nasal Place Assimilation (NPA)
May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam5
• X/Y/XY paradigm (P. Jusczyk)
un...b...umb
un...b...umb
Experimental Paradigm
p = .006um...b...umb um...b...iŋgu
iŋ…..gu...iŋgu vs. iŋ…..gu…umb
… … ∃FAITH
• Headturn Preference Procedure (Kemler Nelson et al. ‘95; Jusczyk ‘97)
•Highly general paradigm: Main result
ℜ *FNP
May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam6
15.36
12.31
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Faithfulness Markedness M ≫ F
Tim
e (s
ec)
Higher HLower H
4.5 Months (NPA)Higher
HarmonyLower Harmony
um…ber…umber
um…ber… iŋgu
p = .006 (11/16)
May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam7
15.2315.36
12.7312.31
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Faithfulness Markedness M ≫ F
Tim
e (s
ec)
Higher HLower H
Higher Harmony
Lower Harmony
um…ber…umber
un…ber…unber
p = .044 (11/16)
4.5 Months (NPA)
May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam8
15.2315.36
12.7312.31
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Faithfulness Markedness M ≫ F
Tim
e (s
ec)
Higher HLower H
4.5 Months (NPA) Markedness * Faithfulness
* Markedness Faithfulness
un…ber…umber
un…ber…unber
???
May 7, 2003 University of Amsterdam9
5 Experiments