Lexically based learning and semantic analogy may both play a role in the learning of
grammar. To investigate this, 5-year-old German children were trained on a miniature
language (nominally English) involving two grammatical constructions, each of which was
associated with a different semantic verb class. Training was followed by elicited production
and grammaticality judgement tests with ‘trained verbs’ and a ‘generalization’ test, involving
untrained verbs. In the ‘trained verbs’ judgement test the children were above chance at
associating particular verbs with the constructions in which they had heard them. They
did this significantly more often with verbs which they had heard especially frequently in
particular constructions, indicating lexically based learning. There was also an interaction
between frequency and semantic class (or the particular verbs). In the generalization
judgement test the children were at chance overall. In the elicited production generalization
test 75% of the children used the same construction for all items
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