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SUMMARY:The interaction between simplicity and naturalness in nominal word
  order typology - Dr Jennifer Culbertson (University of Edinburgh)
DTSTART:20190425T153000Z
DTEND:20190425T170000Z
UID:TALK123880@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Julia Heine
DESCRIPTION:In this talk\, I discuss the connection between the typologica
 l distribution of word orders in the noun phrase\, and cognitive biases ac
 tive during learning. In particular\, I set out two such biases – one fo
 r structural simplicity\, and one for semantic naturalness – and test ho
 w they interact to drive the behaviour of adults and children in a series 
 of artificial language learning experiments. The findings across these exp
 eriments suggest that developmental and native language transfer effects p
 lay a role in how new linguistic patterns are learned. Nevertheless\, both
  simplicity and naturalness also shape learning outcomes in a way that ali
 gns closely with the typology\, providing a possible explanation for the f
 requency of particular patterns across the world's languages.
LOCATION:English Faculty Building\, GR-05 (ground floor)
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