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From Proceedings of the 1995 Midwest Artificial Intelligence and
Cognitive Science Conference, 1996, p. 1-6.
Reconsidering Domain-General Language Learning
Heather Morrison and Morten H. Christiansen
Abstract
Can learning be constrained without reverting to nativism? This paper
explores the possibility of such constraints in case of language
learning. We discuss the dichotomy between domain-specific (nativist)
and domain-general (empiricist) language learning. Eschewing this
dichotomy, we suggest that connectionism may provide the mechanisms
for a middle-ground: learning specific to a super-domain. A recent
theory of language evolution is outlined, arguing that linguistic and
sequential processing have evolved together as a super-domain
subserved by the same processing mechanisms. We further suggest that
some aspects of agrammatical aphasia may be explained in terms of
severe working memory reductions within this super-domain.
