Dissertation Improvement Grant: Domain Specificity in Learning Phonology

论文改进补助金：学习音系学的领域特异性

• 批准号: 1123610
• 负责人: Jeffrey Heinz
• 金额: $ 0.66万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1123610&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Domain; Specificity

A fundamental question facing researchers in linguistics and cognitive science is whether children's ability to learn language is due to specialized cognitive modules or to more general learning capacities. This research tests a strong version of the hypothesis that specialized cognitive modules for language learning exist.Specifically, the goal of this research is to find evidence for or against the claim that a specialized module is present for learning how sounds pattern in languages. This claim is grounded by computational considerations, which reveal that the way languages combine speech sounds to make words (phonology) is fundamentally different from the way languages combine words to make sentences (syntax).The PIs exploit this computational understanding to develop a series of artificial language learning experiments that investigate how specialized the module for learning phonology is in two ways. First, the learnability of an attested sound pattern is compared with the learnability of a minimally different, but unattested, sound pattern. Theoretically, the only known difference between these two patterns is their computational complexity. A second series of experiments examines the learnability of patterns only found in the syntax, but not the phonology, of natural languages. A distinguishing feature of both series of experiments is that the specific patterns to be tested are well understood both in theoretical computer science and in theoretical linguistics.The results of this research will lead to a better understanding of the psychological reality of the computational boundaries investigated here. This in turn will provide a deeper understanding of what constitutes a possible phonological pattern, how such patterns are learned, and first language acquisition in general. The results also directly address the extent to which human language learning is domain-specific or domain-general. Studies of language processing and clinical research into speech and language disorders may also benefit from this investigation.

语言学和认知科学研究人员面临的一个基本问题是，儿童学习语言的能力是由于专门的认知模块还是更一般的学习能力。这项研究测试了一个强有力的假设，即存在用于语言学习的专门认知模块。具体来说，这项研究的目标是找到支持或反对以下说法的证据：存在用于学习语言中发音模式的专门模块。这一主张是基于计算方面的考虑，它揭示了语言组合语音形成单词（音系）的方式与语言组合单词形成句子（语法）的方式根本不同。PI 利用这种计算理解开发了一系列人工语言学习实验，通过两种方式研究用于学习音系的模块的专业化程度。首先，将经过验证的声音模式的可学习性与差异最小但未经验证的声音模式的可学习性进行比较。理论上，这两种模式之间唯一已知的区别是它们的计算复杂性。第二系列实验检验了仅在自然语言的语法中发现的模式的可学习性，而不是在自然语言的音系中发现的模式。这两个系列实验的一个显着特点是，要测试的具体模式在理论计算机科学和理论语言学中都得到了很好的理解。这项研究的结果将有助于更好地理解此处研究的计算边界的心理现实。反过来，这将有助于更深入地理解什么构成了可能的语音模式、如何学习这些模式以及一般的第一语言习得。结果还直接解决了人类语言学习在特定领域或通用领域的程度。 语言处理研究以及言语和语言障碍的临床研究也可能受益于这项调查。