Communicative pressures shape language during communication (not learning): Evidence from case-marking in artificial...

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Psychology

Background:

• Natural languages often exhibit efficient communication features.
• Differential Case Marking (DCM) is one such feature, where grammatical roles are marked only when necessary for clarity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether biases in human language learning favor communicatively efficient Differential Case Marking.
• To determine if learners spontaneously adopt DCM in a non-communicative setting.

Main Methods:

• An artificial language learning experiment was conducted.
• Participants were tested on recall and in communicative interaction tasks.
• The study examined the production of Differential Object Marking (DOM) in relation to message uncertainty.

Main Results:

• No evidence was found for a learning bias favoring communicatively efficient DCM in non-communicative recall tasks.
• Participants' case marking was not influenced by factors affecting message uncertainty during recall.
• In communicative interaction, participants demonstrated the expected DOM pattern, aligning with efficient communication principles.

Conclusions:

• Communicative efficiency in language may arise from language use rather than innate learning biases.
• Human language acquisition does not appear to inherently favor communicatively efficient structures like DCM.
• Language adaptation to communicative efficiency occurs through social interaction and usage.