Productivity (2.1)

In U-Shaped learning, what is the most common type of error in the decrease?

over-regularization errors

Describe the 3 steps of U-Shaped learning using the English past tense: 

1 - memorize past forms
2 - learn +ed rule and over-apply it
3 - learn restrictions to the +ed rule

Why would children over-apply the +ed rule? (talk about problem learning irregulars)

input sparsity, irregular verbs have to be learned one by one and if they’re not heard enough the child won’t know

Are irregular verbs common?

yes, irregulars are concentrated among high frequency verbs

What is an error of omission and are they common?

Not adding something to the sentence, these are the most common type of error

What are commission/substitution error and are they common?

switching what you’re suppost to use with something else, these are rare

Which children learn morphology sooner? (give language example)

those who’s languages have complex morphology, such as bantu languages

By what age are English learners still learning to use the past-tence?

3

by what age (and what condition) do romance language learners use all verbal morphemes correctly 90% of the time?

1;10 if they use them

Are over-regularization errors common?

yes

Are over-irregularization errors common?

no

How often to English / Spanish learns over-regularize?

English: 4-10%
Spanish: <5%

How often to English / Spanish learns over-irregularize?

English: 0.2%
Spanish: <0.1%

Other than past-tense, what are 3 other places in English (with examples) that there are irregularities?

Plural: ox/oxen, sheep/sheep, mouse/mice
Q Word-Order: do S V vs have S V
Adj-Noun Order: A-N vs N-A

What is Pinker’s symbolic approach?

minds work like computer programs, math, and logic, with symbols and rules

Write out Pinker’s IF-THEN-ELSE approach

if a verb is used in the past tense then:
1) if it’s irregular, look up irregular form
2) Else add -ed (the default rule)

Describe the ‘list’ in Pinker’s model

The brain goes through a list of every single known irregular past-tense verb before hitting the bottom and defaulting to -ed

Write out the most sophisticated symbolic approach process

If a verb is used in the past-tense then:

1) if it’s truly irregular, look up it’s form

2) If in form CiN(C) —> from past CaN(C)

3) otherwise add -ed (default rule)

What is Association borrowed from?

connectionist models

what is connectionism? (4 things)

neural nets for psychologists instead of machine learners

just relationships between items

they may be stronger or weaker

leads to fuzzy categories

What are Regulars in Pinker’s model? (5 things)

true categories

add -ed

clear judgements 

no frequency effect (evidence against association)

over-regularization is common 

What are Irregularities in Pinker’s model? (5 things)

fuzzy categories

unclear judgements sing/sang or sing/sung

frequency effect in learning

blocking

over-regularization is rare

what is blocking?

when a more specific form blocks a more general one

give 2 examples of blocking

went blocks goed
thought blocks thinked

Who does the term blocking come from?

retired SBU professor Mark Aronoff

is blocking context specific? (give example)

yes
mouse (animal) vs mouse (for a computer)

what kind of process is blocking?

an innate one

in innate-framework and learned systems what is innate?

rules and associations

in innate-framework and learned systems what are the 3 contrasts we’re learning to make?

association vs rule

irregular vs regular

unproductive vs productive

what does input sparsity do to innate-framework and learned systems? 

makes it non-trivial

what are 3 options of things you could do to find a balance in the input to figure things out?

• could memorize all pairs (associations, irregulars)

• could learn one rule  and memorize the rest

• could learn multiple and memorize the rest 

Even if a pattern is rule governed…

you still need associations between the item and the rule

if a pattern is regular/productive/rule-governed…

you can apply it to novel items

if a pattern is irregular/unproductive/associative…

you have to learn the mapping before you can apply it

what type of testing proves a regular/productive/rule-governed method is used?

wug tests

frequency relates to strength of associations, therefore…

higher frequency means faster access time

what should we expect to see in frequency rates between regulars and irregulars

more frequency effect for reaction time for irregulars than for regulars 

the frequency effect for error rate is…

poor correlation -0.39

for access time, rule frequency helps…

prop up a low item frequency word
for accuracy, it helps alot but still not good (correlation = -0.59)

what are 3 reasons rules are helpful and explain them

efficiency - saves storage space since multiple items can be handled by the same rule

naturalness - we naturally categorize items constantly (so do animals)

experimental evidence - more consistant with a rule-based system than alternatives

what is the rule scope? describe it’s place in linguistics 

how do you determine which item a rule should apply too?

one of the biggest problems in language aqucision