Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-kv2lp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-04T19:26:57.528Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The role of indirect positive evidence in syntactic acquisition: A look at anaphoric one

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Lisa S. Pearl*
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
Benjamin Mis*
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine

Abstract

Language learners are often faced with a scenario where the data allow multiple generalizations, even though only one is actually correct. One promising solution to this problem is that children are equipped with helpful learning strategies that guide the types of generalizations made from the data. Two successful approaches in recent work for identifying these strategies have involved (i) expanding the set of informative data to include INDIRECT POSITIVE EVIDENCE, and (ii) using observable behavior as a target state for learning. We apply both of these ideas to the case study of English anaphoric one, using computationally modeled learners that assume one’s antecedent is the same syntactic category as one and form their generalizations based on realistic data. We demonstrate that a learner that is biased to include indirect positive evidence coming from other pronouns in English can generate eighteen-month-old looking-preference behavior. Interestingly, we find that the knowledge state responsible for this target behavior is a context- dependent representation for anaphoric one, rather than the adult representation, but this immature representation can suffice in many communicative contexts involving anaphoric one. More generally, these results suggest that children may be leveraging broader sets of data to make the syntactic generalizations leading to their observed behavior, rather than selectively restricting their input. We additionally discuss the components of the learning strategies capable of producing the observed behavior, including their possible origin and whether they may be useful for making other linguistic generalizations.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Linguistic Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Supplementary material: File

Pearl and Mis supplementary material

Pearl and Mis supplementary material
Download Pearl and Mis supplementary material(File)
File 249 KB