More overregularizations after all: new data and discussion on Marcus, Pinker, Ullman, Hollander, Rosen &amp; Xu

Maratsos, Michael P

doi:10.1017/s0305000999004067

Cited by 127 publications

(77 citation statements)

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“…In the literature on the past tense over-regularization error, Marcus et al (1992) have argued that estimates of error rates based on low frequency structures in small samples are unreliable, which is the justification for their focus on overall error rates. However, as we have found (and as Maratsos, 2000, has suggested), overall error rates are also misleading, often leading to an underestimation of error rate in low frequency structures.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Similarly, Rowland, Pine, Lieven & Theakston (2005) found that overall rates of error in wh-question production were influenced disproportionately by children's ability to use the highly frequent form copula is correctly. Error rates with rarer auxiliaries, especially forms of auxiliary DO and modal auxiliaries were much higher (see also the debate between Marcus, Pinker, Ullman, Hollander, Rosen &Xu, 1992, andMaratsos, 2000, for similar issues for past-tense over-regularization errors).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of sampling on estimates of lexical specificity and error rates

Rowland

Fletcher

2006

J. Child Lang.

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A B S T R A C TStudies based on naturalistic data are a core tool in the field of language acquisition research and have provided thorough descriptions of children's speech. However, these descriptions are inevitably confounded by differences in the relative frequency with which children use words and language structures. The purpose of the present work was to investigate the impact of sampling constraints on estimates of the productivity of children's utterances, and on the validity of error rates. Comparisons were made between five different sized samples of wh-question data produced by one child aged 2 ;8. First, we assessed whether sampling constraints undermined the claim (e.g. Tomasello, 2000) that the restricted nature of early child speech reflects a lack of adultlike grammatical knowledge. We demonstrated that small samples were equally likely to under-as overestimate lexical specificity in children's speech, and that the reliability of estimates varies according to sample size. We argued that reliable analyses require a comparison with a control sample, such as that from an adult speaker. Second, we investigated the validity of estimates of error rates based on small samples. The results showed that overall error rates underestimate the incidence of error in some rarely produced parts of the system and that analyses on small samples were likely to substantially over-or underestimate error rates in infrequently produced constructions. We concluded that caution must be used when basing arguments about the scope and nature of errors in children's early multi-word productions on analyses of samples of spontaneous speech.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of sampling on estimates of lexical specificity and error rates

Rowland

Fletcher

2006

J. Child Lang.

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“…Abe turned out to be a fantastic word learner, with a Peabody verbal IQ of 140, and he was using more regular verbs than irregulars already at 2;4, where his peers were using considerably more irregulars than regulars at the same age. Moreover, Abe learned more regulars than irregulars in every subsequent month (Maratsos 2000;Appendix). For his peers, the monthly learning rate for regulars only caught up with that of irregulars at least six months later.…”

Section: Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three factors in language variation

Yang

2010

Lingua

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Universal Grammar and statistical generalization from linguistic data have almost always been invoked as mutually exclusive means of explaining child language acquisition. This papers show that such segregation is both conceptually unnecessary and empirically awed. We demonstrate the utility of general learning mechanisms in the acquisition of the core grammatical system through frequency effects in parameter setting, and develop an optimization-based model of productivity with applications to morphology and syntax in the periphery. These ndings in child language support the approach to the evolution of language that seeks connections between language and other cognitive systems, in particular the consequence of general principles of ef cient computation.

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“…overextension of the regular past tense, as in "goed" and "comed"), due in part to the belief (now under challenge) that such cases constitute evidence for the maturation of a rule system and/or the mastery of individual rules (compare Elman et al 1996and Juola & Plunkett 1998with Marcus 1999and Pinker 1999. However, such cases are far less common that one might infer from the space that they occupy in textbooks (Maratsos 2000, Marcus et al 1992, and it is no longer clear that they require a maturational or a rulebased account. To underscore the extraordinary richness, diversity and language specificity that is observed in the speech of 2-year-olds, a series of examples from Slobin and other sources is presented in Table 2.…”

Section: Cross-linguistic Variations In Language Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psycholinguistics: A Cross-Language Perspective

Bates

Devescovi

Wulfeck

2001

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

114

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▪ Abstract Cross-linguistic studies are essential to the identification of universal processes in language development, language use, and language breakdown. Comparative studies in all three areas are reviewed, demonstrating powerful differences across languages in the order in which specific structures are acquired by children, the sparing and impairment of those structures in aphasic patients, and the structures that normal adults rely upon most heavily in real-time word and sentence processing. It is proposed that these differences reflect a cost-benefit trade-off among universal mechanisms for learning and processing (perception, attention, motor planning, memory) that are critical for language, but are not unique to language.

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More overregularizations after all: new data and discussion on Marcus, Pinker, Ullman, Hollander, Rosen & Xu

Cited by 127 publications

References 0 publications

The effect of sampling on estimates of lexical specificity and error rates

The effect of sampling on estimates of lexical specificity and error rates

Three factors in language variation

Psycholinguistics: A Cross-Language Perspective

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