Does Grammar Start Where Statistics Stop?

Mark S. Seidenberg, Maryellen C. MacDonald, Jenny R. Saffran

2002-10-18articleScience132 citationsclosed

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Language Development and Disorders Reading and Literacy Development Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism

Abstract

How do we acquire language? Do we identify words in a stream of speech by identifying statistical regularities or by seeking grammatical structure? A new study of adults ([PeA±a][1] et al .) suggests that language acquisition involves a mixture of both types of learning. But, as [Seidenberg][2] and colleagues discuss in their Perspective, distinguishing between these two types of learning presents significant challenges. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/298/5593/604 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/298/5593/553

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