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Imperfect language learning reduces morphological overspecification: Experimental evidence

PloS one, 2022-01, Vol.17 (1), p.e0262876-e0262876 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

COPYRIGHT 2022 Public Library of Science ;2022 Berdicevskis, Semenuks. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. ;info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ;2022 Berdicevskis, Semenuks 2022 Berdicevskis, Semenuks ;ISSN: 1932-6203 ;EISSN: 1932-6203 ;DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262876 ;PMID: 35085342

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Title:
Imperfect language learning reduces morphological overspecification: Experimental evidence
Author: Berdicevskis, Aleksandrs ; Semenuks, Arturs
Kempe, Vera
Subjects: Adult ; Biology and Life Sciences ; Chains ; Complexity ; Experiments ; Female ; General Language Studies and Linguistics ; Humans ; Jämförande språkvetenskap och lingvistik ; Language ; Language acquisition ; Language and languages ; Languages ; Learning ; Linguistics ; Male ; Methods ; Models, Theoretical ; Morphological complexity ; Morphology ; Native speakers ; Nonnative speakers ; Overspecification ; Population ; Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology) ; Psykologi (exklusive tillämpad psykologi) ; Simplification ; Social Sciences ; Social structure ; Study and teaching
Is Part Of: PloS one, 2022-01, Vol.17 (1), p.e0262876-e0262876
Description: It is often claimed that languages with more non-native speakers tend to become morphologically simpler, presumably because non-native speakers learn the language imperfectly. A growing number of studies support this claim, but there is a dearth of experiments that evaluate it and the suggested explanatory mechanisms. We performed a large-scale experiment which directly tested whether imperfect language learning simplifies linguistic structure and whether this effect is amplified by iterated learning. Members of 45 transmission chains, each consisting of 10 one-person generations, learned artificial mini-languages and transmitted them to the next generation. Manipulating the learning time showed that when transmission chains contained generations of imperfect learners, the decrease in morphological complexity was more pronounced than when the chains did not contain imperfect learners. The decrease was partial (complexity did not get fully eliminated) and gradual (caused by the accumulation of small simplifying changes). Simplification primarily affected double agent-marking, which is more redundant, arguably more difficult to learn and less salient than other features. The results were not affected by the number of the imperfect-learner generations in the transmission chains. Thus, we provide strong experimental evidence in support of the hypothesis that iterated imperfect learning leads to language simplification.
Publisher: United States: Public Library of Science
Language: English
Identifier: ISSN: 1932-6203
EISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262876
PMID: 35085342
Source: Geneva Foundation Free Medical Journals at publisher websites
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NORA Norwegian Open Research Archives
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Imperfect language learning reduces morphological overspecification: Experimental evidence

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