Research on Statistical Mechanisms of Language Acquisition

Abstract

What mechanisms underlie human language acquisition? Relevant evidence indicates that language learners, with infants included, have the ability to employ statistical properties of linguistic input to find language structure, such as sound patterns, vocabulary, and grammar. These abilities appear to be both powerful and constrained, so that a certain number of statistical patterns are more easily mastered and employed than others. Implications for the structure of human languages are to be discussed.