The Arbitrariness of the Sign: Learning Advantages From the Structure of the Vocabulary
The Arbitrariness of the Sign: Learning Advantages From the Structure of the Vocabulary
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DOI：
10.1037/a0022924
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发表时间：
2011-08-01
影响因子：
4.1
通讯作者：
Fitneva, Stanka A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Monaghan, Padraic;Christiansen, Morten H.;Fitneva, Stanka A.
最近的研究表明，语音单词形式及其含义之间的系统映射可以促进语言学习（例如，以声音象征或语法类别的线索的形式）。然而，矛盾的是，从学习的角度来看，大多数单词都有一个任意的形式-意义映射。我们假设，这种悖论可能反映了两种不同的语言学习功能之间的分工：任意性有助于学习特定的词义，系统性有助于学习将单词归类。在一系列计算调查和人工语言学习研究中，我们改变了语言的任意性或系统性。对于模拟和行为研究，我们发现学习词汇的最佳结构包含了这种分工。英语和法语的语料库分析表明，这些预测模式也发现在自然语言。
Recent research has demonstrated that systematic mappings between phonological word forms and their meanings can facilitate language learning (e.g., in the form of sound symbolism or cues to grammatical categories). Yet, paradoxically from a learning viewpoint, most words have an arbitrary form-meaning mapping. We hypothesized that this paradox may reflect a division of labor between 2 different language learning functions: arbitrariness facilitates learning specific word meanings and systematicity facilitates learning to group words into categories. In a series of computational investigations and artificial language learning studies, we varied the extent to which the language was arbitrary or systematic. For both the simulations and the behavioral studies, we found that the optimal structure of the vocabulary for learning incorporated this division of labor. Corpus analyses of English and French indicate that these predicted patterns are also found in natural languages.