Non-adjacent dependency learning in infancy, and its link to language development

To acquire language, infants must learn how to identify words and linguistic structure in speech. Statistical learning has been suggested to assist both of these tasks. However, infants’ capacity to use statistics to discover words and structure together remains unclear. Further, it is not yet known how infants’ statistical learning ability relates to their language development. We trained 17-month-old infants on an artificial language comprising non-adjacent dependencies, and examined their looking times on tasks assessing sensitivity to words and structure using an eye-tracked head-turn-preference paradigm. We measured infants’ vocabulary size using a Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) concurrently and at 19, 21, 24, 25, 27, and 30 months to relate performance to language development. Infants could segment the words from speech, demonstrated by a significant difference in looking times to words versus part-words. Infants’ segmentation performance was significantly related to their vocabulary size (receptive and expressive) both currently, and over time (receptive until 24 months, expressive until 30 months), but was not related to the rate of vocabulary growth. The data also suggest infants may have developed sensitivity to generalised structure, indicating similar statistical learning mechanisms may contribute to the discovery of words and structure in speech, but this was not related to vocabulary size

Examining the Neural Correlates of Vocabulary and Grammar Learning Using fNIRS

Adults struggle with learning language components involving categorical relations such as grammar while achieving higher proficiency in vocabulary. The cognitive and neural mechanisms modulating this learning difference remain unclear. The present thesis investigated behavioural and neural differences between vocabulary and grammar processing in adults using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Participants took part in an artificial language learning paradigm consisting of novel singular and plural words paired with images of common objects. Findings revealed higher accuracy scores and faster response times on semantic vocabulary judgement trials compared to grammar judgement trials. Singular vocabulary judgement was associated with neural activity in part of the pars triangularis of the right inferior frontal gyrus associated with semantic recall. On the other hand, bilateral portions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were more active during grammar judgement tasks. The results are discussed with reference to the roles of memory mechanisms and interference effects in language learning

Computational and Robotic Models of Early Language Development: A Review

We review computational and robotics models of early language learning and development. We first explain why and how these models are used to understand better how children learn language. We argue that they provide concrete theories of language learning as a complex dynamic system, complementing traditional methods in psychology and linguistics. We review different modeling formalisms, grounded in techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence such as Bayesian and neural network approaches. We then discuss their role in understanding several key mechanisms of language development: cross-situational statistical learning, embodiment, situated social interaction, intrinsically motivated learning, and cultural evolution. We conclude by discussing future challenges for research, including modeling of large-scale empirical data about language acquisition in real-world environments. Keywords: Early language learning, Computational and robotic models, machine learning, development, embodiment, social interaction, intrinsic motivation, self-organization, dynamical systems, complexity.Comment: to appear in International Handbook on Language Development, ed. J. Horst and J. von Koss Torkildsen, Routledg

Bilingualism in children: classifications, questions and problems. Bilinguals and bilingual interpreters

El artículo ofrece una síntesis de las principales ideas y de las diferentes clasificaciones relacionadas con el bilingüismo en adultos. El artículo se divide en tres partes principales: Las lenguas y el bilingüismo; aprendizaje de la segunda lengua; principios y problemas; y el bilingüismo como proceso: escenarios, etapas, fases y preguntas. El autor pretende conducir al lector a la idea central de que para un intérprete no es tan relevante su bilingüismo, que a veces comprende la fluidez del hablante nativo en varias lenguas, sino su capacidad para procesar el mensaje en la lengua de origen mientras está recodificando el mensaje en la lengua meta (destino). Este artículo está ilustrado con ejemplos de casos particulares de hablantes bilingües que el autor ha observado personalmente en la antigua Unión Soviética, en España y en Cuba.This article provides a synthesis of the main ideas, classifications and views on bilingualism in children and adults. The article comprises three main sections: (1) Languages and Bilingualism; (2) Second Language Learning: Principles and Questions; and (3) Bilingualism as a Process: Stages, Phases and Questions. The author posits the key idea that what is characteristic of an interpreter is not so much his or her bilingualism (or "bilingualness"), which often includes native-like competence in several languages, but rather his ability to decode a message in the source language while simultaneously re-encoding it in the target language. The article is largely illustrated with examples from the author's own experience in dealing with bilinguals in the former Soviet Union, Spain and Cub