Three Exemplars Allow at Least Some Linguistic Generalizations: Implications for Generalization Mechanisms and Constraints

The mechanism that allows learners to generalize over linguistic input and its relation to constraints on possible generalizations was explored in three experiments. Infants were familiarized briefly with words exhibiting stress patterns generated by a set of ordered principles, and then tested on new words that were either consistent or inconsistent with those principles. In Experiment 1, 9-month-olds generalized from three different heavy syllables (those ending in a consonant) heard during familiarization, to a new heavy syllable at test, but did not generalize from multiple tokens of one heavy syllable. Experiment 2 demonstrated that, although 9-month-olds were able to use three syllables to generalize the linguistically natural principle assigning stress to heavy syllables, they failed to use them to generalize a principle that does not occur in natural languages, suggesting that the mechanism requiring three input examples does not apply to all input equally. Experiment 3 demonstrated that although 9-month-olds failed to generalize the unnatural principle, 7.5-month-olds succeeded, suggesting that constraints on generalization can be acquired over development.

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