On the intolerance of the Tolerance Principle

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 738-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vsevolod Kapatsinski
Keyword(s):  
Tolerance Principle

The Logic of Evidence

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Yang
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Bayesian Models ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Classic Problem ◽  
Tolerance Principle

A completely new conceptualization of the indirect negative evidence business in language acquisition, especially in syntax. Instead of thinking about retreating from over-generalization, a derivative application of the Tolerance Principle ensures that the child is much more careful before generalizing. Shows how the learner may acquire that adjectives such as “asleep” do not allow attributive in NPs (“*the asleep cat”), and how to resolve Baker’s classic problem of dative construction acquisition (“*I donated the museum a painting”). A critique of previous proposals, including Bayesian models of inference, is also included.

scholarly journals Testing the Tolerance Principle: Children form productive rules when it is more computationally efficient

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Schuler ◽  
Charles Yang ◽  
Elissa Newport
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Regular Pattern ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Regular Form ◽  
New Words ◽  
Tolerance Principle ◽  
The Way

During language acquisition, children must learn when to generalize a pattern – applying it broadly and to new words (‘add –ed’ in English) – and when to restrict generalization, storing the pattern only with specific lexical items. But what governs when children will form productive rules during language acquisition? How do they determine when a pattern is widespread enough to generalize to novel words, and when a pattern should not extend beyond the cases they have observed in their input? One effort to quantify the conditions for generalization, the Tolerance Principle (Yang, 2016), has been shown to accurately predict children’s generalization behavior in dozens of corpus-based studies. The Tolerance Principle hypothesizes that a general rule will be formed when it is computationally more efficient than storing lexical forms individually. Here we test the Tolerance Principle in two artificial language experiments with children. In both experiments, we exposed children to a language with 9 novel nouns, some of which followed a regular pattern to form the plural (-ka) and some of which were exceptions to this rule. As predicted by the Tolerance Principle, in Experiment 1 we found that children exposed to 5 regular forms and 4 exceptions generalized, applying the regular form to 100% of novel test words. Children exposed to 3 regular forms and 6 exceptions did not extend the rule, even though the regular form was still the majority token in this condition. In Experiment 2, we found that children continued to behave categorically: either forming a productive rule (applying the regular form on all test trials) or using the regular form no more than predicted by chance. We found that the Tolerance Principle can be used to predict whether children will form a productive generalization or not based on each child’s individual vocabulary size. The Tolerance Principle appears to capture something fundamental about the way in which children form productive generalizations during language acquisition.

scholarly journals The role of gender in the acquisition of the Serbian case system

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 896
Author(s):  
Stefan Pophristic ◽  
Kathryn Schuler
Keyword(s):  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Single Gender ◽  
Tolerance Principle ◽  
Case System ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Noun Class ◽  
Abstract Categories ◽  
Categorization System

Serbo-Croatian is marked for seven cases and has a noun class vs. gender distinction. Given the complexity of the inflectional system, we look at Serbo-Croatian as a case study in case acquisition. We explore different correlations  available in the input that children could leverage to acquire the case system in Serbo-Croatian. We ask three main questions: 1) does a noun’s gender predict the noun’s nominative singular suffix? 2) does a noun’s nominative singular suffix predict the noun’s gender? and 3) does a noun’s noun class predict the noun’s gender? Specifically, we ask whether the language input provides children with sufficient evidence to form these three productive generalizations. To test this, we apply the Tolerance Principle (Yang, 2016) to a corpus of 270 inflected Serbian nouns. Within this set of data, we find that: 1) all nominative singular suffixes productively predict a gender; 2) all genders productively predict a nominative singular suffix (with the exception of the neuter gender which predicts two suffixes); and 3) two of the three noun classes predict a single gender. We conclude that the input provides sufficient evidence for these productive correlations and we argue that children can leverage these generalizations to infer the declension patterns or gender of novel nouns. We discuss how, given these findings, children could acquire most of the inflectional system by focusing on gender as a categorization system for nouns, without needing to posit abstract categories of noun class.

Featural dynamics in morphosyntactic change

2021 ◽  
pp. 301-320
Author(s):  
Iris Edda Nowenstein ◽  
Anton Karl Ingason
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Tolerance Principle ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Death Rattle ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
Specific Retention ◽  
The Way ◽  
Formal Features

This chapter examines Icelandic Dative Substitution (DS) and argues that two of its diachronic side effects, referred to as Person-Specific Retention and an Elsewhere Condition Death Rattle, are explained by the way in which formal features constrain the trajectory of morphosyntactic change. The study is based on naturally occurring data and a recent language acquisition experiment and the analysis draws on weighted grammatical rules as well as Yang’s Tolerance Principle. It is argued that DS does not necessarily involve a change in the syntax, but should rather be viewed as a change in the interpretation of syntactic information at the interface with morphology, resulting in variability on the surface. The results are analyzed in the context of recent theories on specialization in linguistic change and the dynamics of variation in individuals.

When Language Fails

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Yang
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Numerical Studies ◽  
Tolerance Principle

The theory predicts complete lexicalization when the number of exceptions to a rule exceeds the threshold, which leads to morphological gaps: without a productive rule, you only know the derived form if you hear it otherwise ineffability arises. Detailed numerical studies for gaps in Russian, English, Spanish, and Polish. The Tolerance Principle also directly bears on language variation and change, in that it provides/predicts the conditions under which language change is actuated. As a case study, the theory explains why—and when—the so-called dative sickness, and other instances of case substitution, took place in Icelandic in the 19th centuries.

scholarly journals FROM THE HISTORY OF TOLERANCE PRINCIPLE IN UZBEKISTAN

2020 ◽  
pp. 424-426
Author(s):  
Ergashev Ravshanbek Rasulovich
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Religious Organization ◽  
Religious Tolerance ◽  
Spiritual Values ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Tolerance Principle ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Given ◽  
Historical Periods ◽  
Behavioral Goal

The given article analyzes religious tolerance and the revival of Islamic traditions in Uzbekistan using regulatory and scientific literatures and sources as well. It has also analyzed that in our independent republic the issue of harmony, peace and harmony among nations is of great importance, and tolerance has always been a behavioral goal in all historical periods. KEY WORDS: Uzbekistan, religious tolerance, spiritual values, confession, interethnic consent, religious organization, constitution, freedom of conscience

The Tipping Point

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Yang
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Basic Principle ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Mathematical Principle ◽  
Tolerance Principle ◽  
A Performance

Using the Elsewhere Condition as a basic principle of language, as well as a performance/processing model, this chapters derives the mathematical principle of productivity dubbed the Tolerance Principle. Psycholinguistic evidence, largely drawn from reaction time studies, for the proposed processing model. Schematic illustrations of how the Tolerance Principle is put into use during language acquisition.

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