Learning Additional Languages as Hierarchical Probabilistic Inference
Insights From First Language Processing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4502147 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bożena Pająk (0000-0001-6767-3590, Duolingo (United States), corresponding author), Alex B Fine (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Dave F Kleinschmidt (University of Rochester), Dave Kleinschmidt (0000-0002-7442-2762, University of Rochester), T Florian Jaeger (0000-0003-1903-7308, University of Rochester) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 900-944 |
| Publication date | 2016-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language Learning (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-8333 • E-ISSN: 1467-9922 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/lang.12168 |
| PMID | 28348442 |
| OpenAlex | W2298102808 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
| References cited | 148 |
We present a framework of second and additional language (L2/Ln) acquisition motivated by recent work on socio-indexical knowledge in first language (L1) processing. The distribution of linguistic categories covaries with socio-indexical variables (e.g., talker identity, gender, dialects). We summarize evidence that implicit probabilistic knowledge of this covariance is critical to L1 processing, and propose that L2/Ln learning uses the same type of socio-indexical information to probabilistically infer latent hierarchical structure over previously learned and new languages. This structure guides the acquisition of new languages based on their inferred place within that hierarchy and is itself continuously revised based on new input from any language. This proposal unifies L1 processing and L2/Ln acquisition as probabilistic inference under uncertainty over socio-indexical structure. It also offers a new perspective on crosslinguistic influences during L2/Ln learning, accommodating gradient and continued transfer (both negative and positive) from previously learned to novel languages, and vice versa
Hierarchy · Indexicality · Inference · Language acquisition · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Probabilistic logic · Second-language acquisition · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Language Development and Disorders · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology
Third Language Acquisition and Linguistic Transfer
Robust speech perception
The Contribution of Linguistic Distance to L3 Learning Motivation
The role of L1 and L2 frequency in cross-linguistic structural priming
Listeners are initially flexible in updating phonetic beliefs over time
Effects of Multitalker Input and Instructional Method on the Dimension-Based Statistical Learning of Syllable-Tone Combinations
Big data suggest strong constraints of linguistic similarity on adult language learning
Learning to understand an unfamiliar talker
Mapping different L1 dialects to L2 words
Role of implicit learning abilities in metaphor understanding
Input frequency and construction interference interactions in L2 development
An Individual-Differences Framework for Comparing Nonnative With Native Speakers
Toward Computational Models of Multilingual Sentence Processing
Distributional Learning of Speech Sounds
The Influence of Standard and Substandard Dutch on Gender Assignment in Second Language German
Experimental phonology
Language Attrition
Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis
The effect of word predictability on reading time is logarithmic
The Weckud Wetch of the Wast
Bridging the Gap Between L2 Speech Perception Research and Phonological Theory
Acquiring and processing verb argument structure
Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/and /l/
Words and voices
Interlanguage
Perceptual adaptation to non-native speech
Data from eye-tracking corpora as evidence for theories of syntactic processing complexity
Working memory constraints on the processing of syntactic ambiguity
Linguistic and cognitive motivations for the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) of third language (L3) transfer
Integration of Visual and Linguistic Information in Spoken Language Comprehension
An effect of linguistic experience
Robust speech perception
Rapid Expectation Adaptation during Syntactic Comprehension
When One Person's Mistake Is Another's Standard Usage
What do we mean by prediction in language comprehension?
Perceptual learning in speech
Recognizing Spoken Words
The lexical nature of syntactic ambiguity resolution.
Echoes of echoes? An episodic theory of lexical access.
Critical Evidence
Shortlist B
Learning biases predict a word order universal
Perception of the speech code.
Generalization in perceptual learning for speech
The TRACE model of speech perception
Control Methods Used in a Study of the Vowels
Perceptual learning for speech
Perception of speech reflects optimal use of probabilistic speech cues
Two Languages in Mind
Critical period effects in second language learning
Learning at a distance I. Statistical learning of non-adjacent dependencies
Experience and sentence processing
Exceptional Outcomes in L2 Phonology
Language Acquisition as Rational Contingency Learning
First Language Use in Second Language Production
Selective Attention and Transfer Phenomena in L2 Acquisition
First language attrition and syntactic subjects
Learning Complex Features
L2-accented speech in L3 production
What variables condition syntactic transfer? A look at the L3 initial state
Object pronouns in German L3 syntax
Transfer and typological proximity in the context of second language processing
When Swedes begin to learn German
Stable and developmental optionality in native and non-native Hungarian grammars
Clitics and object expression in the L3 acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese
Multiple Grammars and Second Language Representation
Introduction
Universal Grammar, crosslinguistic variation and second language acquisition
Do Language Attitudes Determine Accent? A Study of Bilinguals in the USA
Tutorials in Bilingualism
Three Misconceptions about Age and L2 Learning
Learners' Ethnic Group Affiliation and L2 Pronunciation Accuracy
Implicit Schemata and Categories in Memory-based Language Processing
Phonetic Diversity, Statistical Learning, and Acquisition of Phonology
Constraints on the agentless passive
Morphological variability in the comprehension of agreement
Rediscovering Interlanguage
Native-language phonetic and phonological influences on perception of American English approximants by Danish and German listeners
The Effect of Social Information on the Perception of Sociolinguistic Variables
Uncovering the Role of Gender Stereotypes in Speech Perception
Miniature linguistic systems as tests of the use of universal operating principles in second-language learning by children and adults
The role of the second language in third language acquisition
Bidirectional Transfer
Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages
L3 syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy
The Robustness of Aptitude Effects in Near-Native Second Language Acquisition
Word Segmentation
How language production shapes language form and comprehension
The role of selective attention in the acquisition of English tense and lax vowels by native Spanish listeners
The segment as a unit of speech perception
Phonological neutralization by native and non-native speakers
Bi-directional interference in the intonation of Dutch speakers of Greek
Auditory-visual integration of talker gender in vowel perception
The role of abstraction in non-native speech perception
Can L2-English influence L1-German? The case of post-vocalic /r
What do listeners learn from exposure to a vowel distribution? An analysis of listening strategies in distributional learning
Rapid and multifaceted effects of second-language learning on first-language speech production
Usage-Based Language
L1 and L2 Distance Effects in Learning L3 Dutch
Interlanguage Transfer of Function Words
The emergentist program
Age at immigration and second language proficiency among foreign-born adults
| Unique citing works | 15 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,36 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |