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dc.contributor.authorBerdicevskis, Aleksandrs
dc.contributor.authorSemenuks, Arturs
dc.date.accessioned2022-08-23T09:01:07Z
dc.date.available2022-08-23T09:01:07Z
dc.date.issued2022-01-27
dc.description.abstractIt is often claimed that languages with more non-native speakers tend to become morphologically simpler, presumably because non-native speakers learn the language imperfectly. A growing number of studies support this claim, but there is a dearth of experiments that evaluate it and the suggested explanatory mechanisms. We performed a large-scale experiment which directly tested whether imperfect language learning simplifies linguistic structure and whether this effect is amplified by iterated learning. Members of 45 transmission chains, each consisting of 10 one-person generations, learned artificial mini-languages and transmitted them to the next generation. Manipulating the learning time showed that when transmission chains contained generations of imperfect learners, the decrease in morphological complexity was more pronounced than when the chains did not contain imperfect learners. The decrease was partial (complexity did not get fully eliminated) and gradual (caused by the accumulation of small simplifying changes). Simplification primarily affected double agent-marking, which is more redundant, arguably more difficult to learn and less salient than other features. The results were not affected by the number of the imperfect-learner generations in the transmission chains. Thus, we provide strong experimental evidence in support of the hypothesis that iterated imperfect learning leads to language simplification.en_US
dc.identifier.citationBerdicevskis, Semenuks. Imperfect language learning reduces morphological overspecification: Experimental evidence. PLOS ONE. 2022;17(1)en_US
dc.identifier.cristinIDFRIDAID 2025171
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0262876
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10037/26353
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_US
dc.relation.journalPLOS ONE
dc.rights.accessRightsopenAccessen_US
dc.rights.holderCopyright 2022 The Author(s)en_US
dc.titleImperfect language learning reduces morphological overspecification: Experimental evidenceen_US
dc.type.versionpublishedVersionen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.typeTidsskriftartikkelen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US


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