Syntactic prediction adaptation accounts for language processing and language learning

Abstract

Previous literature has shown that children use recent input to adapt their syntactic predictions, and use these adapted predictions to infer the meaning of novel words. The current study tested whether they could use this mechanism to disambiguate words that are ambiguous between a noun and a verbinterpretation. We tested two-to-four-year-old French children using the phrase la petite followed by a homophone that could be interpreted as either a noun or a verb. Children were assigned to a noun group or a verb group. Before test, the noun group was exposed to sentences where la petite predicted nouns, and the verb group to sentences where la petite predicted verbs. At test, three- to four-year-olds, but not two-year-olds, from the verb group looked at the verb interpretation longer than the noun group. This suggests a progression in children’s ability to rely on input to adapt their predictions in language comprehension.

Prediction and Error-Based Learning in L2 Processing and Acquisition

“…More research is needed to investigate the complex relationships between these factors. The role of cognitive and linguistic individual differences, is clearly a burgeoning area of interest in the language learning sciences (e.g., Bolibaugh & Foster, 2021; Buffington et al, 2021; Pili-Moss, 2021; Riches & Jackson, 2018; Walker et al, 2020; including special issues dedicated to the topic such as those edited by Andringa & Dąbrowska, 2019; Roberts & Meyer, 2012), and investigating the role of individual cognitive abilities in prediction and, specifically, error-based learning, in L1 and L2 (or Lx) speakers would constitute a timely extension of this agenda. Such research could shed more light on some of the factors we have reviewed, such as the varying effect of L2 proficiency (e.g., helping to clarify the relative contributions of knowledge representation and “procedural” proficiency in enabling prediction).…”

“…Such research could shed more light on some of the factors we have reviewed, such as the varying effect of L2 proficiency (e.g., helping to clarify the relative contributions of knowledge representation and “procedural” proficiency in enabling prediction). Individual differences focused research could also help to address broader questions relating to the explanatory power of processing-based accounts of language acquisition (e.g., Havron et al, 2021).…”

“…Finally, at least in L1, frequency effects also extend to adaptation, with greater adaptation observed for dative structures that are encountered in unexpected contexts (Fazekas et al, 2020). More recent research has begun to directly investigate the link between adaptation and language acquisition, showing that children can adapt to different syntactic structures and use their adapted predictions to infer the meaning of new words and interpret ambiguous words (Havron et al, 2019; Havron et al, 2021). All these findings suggest that structural priming and adaptation, driven by a prediction-based mechanism, could potentially play a role in both L1 and L2 acquisition.…”