Editing Language acquisition (section)

====Statistical learning====
{{Main|Statistical learning in language acquisition}}
Some language acquisition researchers, such as [[Elissa L. Newport|Elissa Newport]], Richard Aslin, and [[Jenny Saffran]], emphasize the possible roles of general [[learning]] mechanisms, especially statistical learning, in language acquisition. The development of [[connectionist]] models that when implemented are able to successfully learn words and syntactical conventions<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Seidenberg |first1=Mark S. |last2=McClelland |first2=James L. |title=A distributed, developmental model of word recognition and naming. |journal=Psychological Review |date=1989 |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=523–568 |doi=10.1037/0033-295X.96.4.523 |pmid=2798649 }}</ref> supports the predictions of statistical learning theories of language acquisition, as do empirical studies of children's detection of word boundaries.<ref name="Saffran 1996 1926–1928"/> In a series of connectionist model simulations, Franklin Chang has demonstrated that such a domain general statistical learning mechanism could explain a wide range of language structure acquisition phenomena.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chang |first1=Franklin |last2=Dell |first2=Gary S. |last3=Bock |first3=Kathryn |title=Becoming syntactic |journal=Psychological Review |date=2006 |volume=113 |issue=2 |pages=234–272 |doi=10.1037/0033-295x.113.2.234 |pmid=16637761 }}</ref>

[[Statistical learning theory]] suggests that, when learning language, a learner would use the natural statistical properties of language to deduce its structure, including sound patterns, words, and the beginnings of grammar.<ref name="Saffran, 2003">{{cite journal |last1=Saffran |first1=Jenny R. |title=Statistical Language Learning: Mechanisms and Constraints |journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science |date=August 2003 |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=110–114 |doi=10.1111/1467-8721.01243 }}</ref> That is, language learners are sensitive to how often [[syllable]] combinations or words occur in relation to other syllables.<ref name="Saffran 1996 1926–1928">{{cite journal |last1=Saffran |first1=Jenny R. |last2=Aslin |first2=Richard N. |last3=Newport |first3=Elissa L. |title=Statistical Learning by 8-Month-Old Infants |journal=Science |date=13 December 1996 |volume=274 |issue=5294 |pages=1926–1928 |doi=10.1126/science.274.5294.1926 |bibcode=1996Sci...274.1926S |pmid=8943209 }}</ref><ref name="Graf Estes 2007 254–260">{{cite journal |last1=Estes |first1=Katharine Graf |last2=Evans |first2=Julia L. |last3=Alibali |first3=Martha W. |last4=Saffran |first4=Jenny R. |title=Can Infants Map Meaning to Newly Segmented Words?: Statistical Segmentation and Word Learning |journal=Psychological Science |date=March 2007 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=254–260 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01885.x |pmc=3864753 |pmid=17444923 }}</ref><ref name="Lany 284–91">{{cite journal|last=Lany|first=Jill|author2=Saffran|date=January 2010|title=From Statistics to Meaning: Infants' Acquisition of Lexical Categories|journal=Psychological Science|volume=21|issue=2|pages=284–91|doi=10.1177/0956797609358570|pmc=3865606|pmid=20424058}}</ref> Infants between 21 and 23 months old are also able to use statistical learning to develop "lexical categories", such as an animal category, which infants might later map to newly learned words in the same category.  These findings suggest that early experience listening to language is critical to vocabulary acquisition.<ref name="Lany 284–91"/>

The statistical abilities are effective, but also limited by what qualifies as input, what is done with that input, and by the structure of the resulting output.<ref name="Saffran, 2003" /> Statistical learning (and more broadly, distributional learning) can be accepted as a component of language acquisition by researchers on either side of the "nature and nurture" debate. From the perspective of that debate, an important question is whether statistical learning can, by itself, serve as an alternative to nativist explanations for the grammatical constraints of human language.