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From Syllables to Syntax:Investigating Staged Linguistic Development through
Computational Modelling
Kris Jack, Chris Reed, and Annalu Waller[kjack|chris|awaller]@computing.dundee.ac.uk
Applied Computing, University of Dundee,
Dundee, DD1 4HN, Scotland
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Staged Language Acquisition
Pre-linguistic StageHolophrastic
StageEarly Multi-word Stage Late Multi-word Stage Abstract Stage
0 months 6 months 12 months 18 months 24 months 30 months 36 months 42 months
• Language acquisition is consistently described in stages• Lexical and syntactic acquisition strategies must operate
within a unified model• The Model
– Training Data– Initial Assumptions– Lexical Acquisition– Syntactic Acquisition– Comprehension
• Results
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Staged Language Acquisition
Pre-linguistic StageHolophrastic
StageEarly Multi-word Stage Late Multi-word Stage Abstract Stage
0 months 6 months 12 months 18 months 24 months 30 months 36 months 42 months
• Language acquisition is consistently described in stages• Lexical and syntactic acquisition strategies must operate
within a unified model• The Model
– Training Data– Initial Assumptions– Lexical Acquisition– Syntactic Acquisition– Comprehension
• Results
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Lexical Acquisition
• Siskind
• Steels
• Regier Siskind (1996)
• Cross-situational analysis– Relationship between the appearance
and words and their referents
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Lexical Acquisition
• Siskind
• Steels
• Regier Steels (2001)
• Language games– Social pressure to communicate
within a community of agents can lead to an emergent and shared vocabulary
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Lexical Acquisition
• Siskind
• Steels
• Regier Regier (2005)
• Associative learning– Fast-mapping– Shape bias
• No mechanistic changes– Selective attention
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Syntactic Acquisition
• Roy
• Elman
• Kirby Roy (2002)
• Trained a grounded robot to play a ‘show-and-tell’ game– Training data were divided into
simple and complex descriptions
Data Model
0 > t > x
Data
Data
x > t > y
y > t > z
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Syntactic Acquisition
• Roy
• Elman
• Kirby Elman (1993)
• Incremental Learning– Mechanistic changes can lead to
changes in behaviour
Data
Module
Module
Module
Model
t > 0
t > x
t > y
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Syntactic Acquisition
• Roy
• Elman
• Kirby Kirby (2002)
• Iterated Learning– Languages with increasing
complexity can emerge across generations of agents
Model Model
Data
Model
Data
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Question
Can we develop a unified model that performs staged language acquisition where:
1. The learning mechanisms are constant AND
2. Exposure to training data is constant?
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Bridging the Gapbetween Words and Syntax
• Jack, Reed, and Waller (2004)– Shift from holophrastic to syntactic language– The shift was unrealistic as it appeared very early
• A form of substitution was employed (similar to Harris (1966); Wolff (1988); Kirby (2002); van Zaanen (2002))
• If the model encountered A B and A C then B and C were considered substitutable for one another
– Given the two rules:» S/eats(john, cake) → johneatscake» S/eats(mary, cake) → maryeatscake
– Three rules were derived:» S/eats(x, cake) → N/x eatscake» N/john → john» N/mary → mary
• This is a reasonable, yet powerful, form of syntactic learning– The target language was unrealistically simple (two-word sentences)
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Training Data
• Played the Scene Building Game– Based on the Miniature Language Acquisition
Problem (Feldman et al., 1990)
– Aim; describe a visual event so that someone else can recreate the event based on the description
→ t = 1 t = 2
→ → t = 3 t = 4
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Training Data
• Played the Scene Building Game– Based on the Miniature Language Acquisition
Problem (Feldman et al., 1990)
– Aim; describe a visual event so that someone else can recreate the event based on the description
→ t = 1 t = 2
→ → t = 3 t = 4
a red square has appeared
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Training Data
• Played the Scene Building Game– Based on the Miniature Language Acquisition
Problem (Feldman et al., 1990)
– Aim; describe a visual event so that someone else can recreate the event based on the description
→ t = 1 t = 2
→ → t = 3 t = 4
a pink cross to the upper right of the
red circle
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Training Data
• Played the Scene Building Game– Based on the Miniature Language Acquisition
Problem (Feldman et al., 1990)
– Aim; describe a visual event so that someone else can recreate the event based on the description
→ t = 1 t = 2
→ → t = 3 t = 4
a blue cross on the other side of
the red circle
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Training Data
• Played the Scene Building Game– Based on the Miniature Language Acquisition
Problem (Feldman et al., 1990)
– Aim; describe a visual event so that someone else can recreate the event based on the description
→ t = 1 t = 2
→ → t = 3 t = 4
another red circle under the pink
cross
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Training Data
• The task was surprisingly complex– Linguistically– Conceptually
• An artificial language was constructed based on a simplified problem– Describes the appearance of the second object in a scene
– Retained the determiner distinction
– Can create sentences such as “a red square a bove the green cir cle” and “a blue tri ang gle to the low er left of the pink star”
S = NP1 REL NP2 REL = REL1 | REL2
NP1 = a NP REL1 = a bove | be low | to the REL4
NP2 = the NP REL2 = REL3 REL4
NP = COLOUR SHAPE REL3 = to the low er | to the u pper
REL4 = left of | right of
COLOUR = black | blue | grey | green | pink | black | red | white
SHAPE = cir cle | cross | dia mond | heart | rec tang gle | star | square | tri ang gle
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Initial Assumptions
• Joint attention is established at around one-year-old (Tomasello, 1995)
• Receives <event, description> pairs– An event is a set of six feature tuples
– A description is a string
→
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”t = 1 t = 2
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Initial Assumptions
• Sensitivity to data– Children can identify objects through displacement during
motion (Kellman et al., 1987). – Children can use shape and colour to differentiate between
objects (e.g. Landau et al., 1988)
→
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”t = 1 t = 2
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Initial Assumptions
• Sensitivity to data– Children show sensitivity to the relative spatial
relationships between objects, making distinctions between left and right, and above and below (Quinn, 2003)
→
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”t = 1 t = 2
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Initial Assumptions
• Sensitivity to data– Children can perform analogies (Gentner and Medina,
1998)
→
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”t = 1 t = 2
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Initial Assumptions
• Sensitivity to data– Children can determine transitional probabilities between
syllables (Saffran, Aslin, and Newport, 1996)
→
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”t = 1 t = 2
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The Model
• Training the model– The Lexical Analysis Unit
• Discovers string-meaning associations
– The Syntactic Analysis Unit• Discovers compositional relationships
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The Lexical Analysis Unit
<event, description> pairs are compared through a form of cross-situational analysis
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”
{<green, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <diamond, (2)>, <even_vertical, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a red dia mond to the right of the green cir cle”
<event, description>#1
<event, description>#2
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The Lexical Analysis Unit
Feature tuple comparisons are value sensitive and object identifier insensitive. Two feature tuples, <v1, (o1)> and <v2, (o2)>, are equivalent iff v1 = v2
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”
{<green, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <diamond, (2)>, <even_vertical, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a red dia mond to the right of the green cir cle”
<event, description>#1
<event, description>#2
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The Lexical Analysis Unit
Co-occurring syllable sequences are found
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”
{<green, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <diamond, (2)>, <even_vertical, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a red dia mond to the right of the green cir cle”
<event, description>#1
<event, description>#2
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The Lexical Analysis Unit
New <feature tuple set, description> pairs are derived
{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <pink, (2)>, <cross, (2)>, <above, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a pink cross to the u pper right of the red cir cle”
{<green, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <diamond, (2)>, <even_vertical, (0)>, <right, (0)>}
“a red dia mond to the right of the green cir cle”
<event, description>#1
<event, description>#2
<{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <right, (0)>}, “a”>
<{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <right, (0)>}, “to the”>
<{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <right, (0)>}, “right of the”>
<{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <right, (0)>}, “red”>
<{<red, (1)>, <circle, (1)>, <right, (0)>}, “cir cle”>
<{<circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <right, (0)>}, “a”>
<{<circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <right, (0)>}, “red”>
<{<circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <right, (0)>}, “to the”>
<{<circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <right, (0)>}, “right of the”>
<{<circle, (1)>, <red, (2)>, <right, (0)>}, “cir cle”>
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The Lexical Analysis Unit
• Cross-situational analysis can produce pairs that share the same strings (homonyms) or the same feature sets (synonyms)
• Homonyms and synonyms are removed, following a principle of mutual exclusivity (Markman and Wachtel, 1988)
• When pairs are equal, with insensitivity to object identifiers, they are merged. Merging produces a new pair, that expresses both of the relationships<{<red, (1)>}, “red”> is merged with<{<red, (2)>}, “red”> to produce
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>
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The Lexical Analysis Unit
• From all merged pairs, homonyms are removed by selecting the most probable feature set for each string,
where Frequency of (Sj | Fi) is the number of times that Sj has been observed with Fi and the Frequency of Sj is the number of times that Sj has been observed
• Then synonyms are removed by selecting the most probable string for each feature set, P(Sj | Fi), and erasing the remaining pair’s feature sets
• A set of lexical items are derived
j
ijji
S
FSSFP
ofFrequency
ofFrequency )|()|( =
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
• Compositional relationships are found by combining and comparing lexical items
• Lexical items are combined by set union and string concatenation
• The lexical item triple <<f1, s1>, <f2, s2>, <f3, s3>> expresses a compositional relationship iff
<f1, s1> = <f2, s2> combined with <f3, s3>
21212211 with combined ssffsfsf += ,,,
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
A lexical item triple can be made to express a rule by:
1. Converting lexical items into phrasal categories
2. Constructing transformations
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
A lexical item triple can be made to express a rule by:
1. Converting lexical items into phrasal categories
2. Constructing transformations
<<{<red, (1, 2)>, <square, (1, 2)>}, “red square”>,
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<square, (1, 2)>}, “square”>>
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
A lexical item triple can be made to express a rule by:
1. Converting lexical items into phrasal categories
2. Constructing transformations
<<{<red, (1, 2)>, <square, (1, 2)>}, “red square”>,
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<square, (1, 2)>}, “square”>>
<{<red, (1, 2)>, <square, (1, 2)>}, “red square”>
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”> <{<square, (1, 2)>}, “square”>
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
A lexical item triple can be made to express a rule by:
1. Converting lexical items into phrasal categories
2. Constructing transformations
<<{<red, (1, 2)>, <square, (1, 2)>}, “red square”>,
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<square, (1, 2)>}, “square”>>
<{<red, (1, 2)>, <square, (1, 2)>}, “red square”>
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”> <{<square, (1, 2)>}, “square”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
Rules that modify object identifiers can be constructed
<{<red, (2)>}, “a red”>
<{}, “a”> <{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>
() (<(1, 2) → (2)>)
<{<blue, (1)>}, “the blue”>
<{}, “the”> <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>
() (<(1, 2) → (1)>)
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
Rules can be merged when they share transformations <{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”> <{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)<{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>
<{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”> <{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
<{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>
<{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”> <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
Rules can be merged when they share transformations <{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”> <{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)<{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>
<{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”> <{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
<{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>
<{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”> <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
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The Syntactic Analysis Unit
Rules can be merged when they share transformations <{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>
<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”> <{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)<{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>
<{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”> <{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
<{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>
<{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”> <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>){<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
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Comprehension
• The model is tested for evidence of language acquisition through comprehension tasks
• The model can comprehend a string by:– Finding it in a phrasal category (lexical)– Or creating it through applying a rule (syntactic)
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Comprehension
• Example 1. Comprehension of “cir cle”– Find “cir cle” in a phrasal category
– Attempt to create “cir cle” by applying a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
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Comprehension
• Example 1. Comprehension of “cir cle”– Find “cir cle” in a phrasal category
– Attempt to create “cir cle” by applying a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
Meaning is {<circle, (1, 2)>}
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Comprehension
• Example 1. Comprehension of “cir cle”– Find “cir cle” in a phrasal category
– Attempt to create “cir cle” by applying a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
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Comprehension
• Example 1. Comprehension of “cir cle”– Find “cir cle” in a phrasal category
– Attempt to create “cir cle” by applying a rule• Find “cir” and “cle” in phrasal categories of a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
No meaning found
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Comprehension
• Example 1. Comprehension of “cir cle”– Find “cir cle” in a phrasal category
– Attempt to create “cir cle” by applying a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
Meaning is found lexically as {<circle, (1, 2)>}
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Comprehension
• Example 2. Comprehension of “red dia mond”– Find “red dia mond” in a phrasal category– Attempt to create “red dia mond” by applying a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
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Comprehension
• Example 2. Comprehension of “red dia mond”– Find “red dia mond” in a phrasal category– Attempt to create “red dia mond” by applying a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
No meaning found
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Comprehension
• Example 2. Comprehension of “red dia mond”– Find “red dia mond” in a phrasal category– Attempt to create “red dia mond” by applying a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
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Comprehension
• Example 2. Comprehension of “red dia mond”– Find “red dia mond” in a phrasal category– Attempt to create “red dia mond” by applying a rule
• Find “red” and “dia mond” in phrasal categories of a rule
• Find “red dia” and “mond” in phrasal categories of a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
{<red, (1, 2)>}, transformed by (<(1, 2)> → (1, 2)>), and combined with{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, transformed by (<(1, 2)> → (1, 2)>), gives {<red, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}
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Comprehension
• Example 2. Comprehension of “red dia mond”– Find “red dia mond” in a phrasal category– Attempt to create “red dia mond” by applying a rule
• Find “red” and “dia mond” in phrasal categories of a rule
• Find “red dia” and “mond” in phrasal categories of a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
No meaning found
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Comprehension
• Example 2. Comprehension of “red dia mond”– Find “red dia mond” in a phrasal category– Attempt to create “red dia mond” by applying a rule
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
Meaning is found syntactically as {<red, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}
Page 51
Comprehension
• Phrasal categories are substitutable for one another if they share a subset relationship
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
{<{<red, (2)>}, “a red”>, <{<blue, (2)>}, “a blue”>, <{<pink, (2)>}, “a pink”>, <{<green, (2)>}, “a green”>, <{<white, (2)>}, “a white”>}
{<{}, “a”>} {<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>, <{<green, (1, 2)>}, “green”>, <{<white, (1, 2)>}, “white”>}
() (<(1, 2) → (2)>)
{<{<pink, (1)>}, “the pink”>, <{<green, (1)>}, “the green”>, <{<white, (1)>}, “the white”>}
{<{}, “the”>} {<{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>, <{<green, (1, 2)>}, “green”>, <{<white, (1, 2)>}, “white”>}
() (<(1, 2) → (1)>)
Page 52
Comprehension
• Phrasal categories are substitutable for one another if they share a subset relationship
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
{<{<red, (2)>}, “a red”>, <{<blue, (2)>}, “a blue”>, <{<pink, (2)>}, “a pink”>, <{<green, (2)>}, “a green”>, <{<white, (2)>}, “a white”>}
{<{}, “a”>} {<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>, <{<green, (1, 2)>}, “green”>, <{<white, (1, 2)>}, “white”>}
() (<(1, 2) → (2)>)
Construction Islands
Page 53
Comprehension
• Phrasal categories are substitutable for one another if they share a subset relationship
{<{<red, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “red cir cle”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>, <circle, (1, 2)>}, “blue cir cle”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>, <diamond, (1, 2)>}, “pink dia mond”>}
{<{<circle, (1, 2)>}, “cir cle”>, <{<diamond, (1, 2)>}, “dia mond”>}
(<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>) (<(1, 2) → (1, 2)>)
{<{<red, (2)>}, “a red”>, <{<blue, (2)>}, “a blue”>, <{<pink, (2)>}, “a pink”>, <{<green, (2)>}, “a green”>, <{<white, (2)>}, “a white”>}
{<{}, “a”>} {<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>, <{<green, (1, 2)>}, “green”>, <{<white, (1, 2)>}, “white”>}
() (<(1, 2) → (2)>)
{<{<red, (1, 2)>}, “red”>, <{<blue, (1, 2)>}, “blue”>, <{<pink, (1, 2)>}, “pink”>, <{<green, (1, 2)>}, “green”>, <{<white, (1, 2)>}, “white”>}
Page 54
Results
• Observing the developmental shift from lexical to syntactic comprehension– Tested for comprehension of colours (10), shapes (10), and colour shape combinations
(100) during training. Results are averaged over 10 sessions.
Developmental Shift
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
No. <event, description>s entered
No
. s
trin
gs
co
mp
reh
en
de
d
8
Lexical
Syntactic
3 P
re-lin
gu
istic
3 H
olo
ph
ras
tic
3 E
arly
3 M
ulti-w
ord
Page 55
Results
• Comprehension of colours and shapes compared to colour shape combinations
– Tested for lexical comprehension of colours (10), and shapes (10), and syntactic comprehension of colour shape combinations (100) during training. Results are averaged over 10 sessions.
Expressivity
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
No. <event, description>s entered
% s
trin
g s
et
com
pre
hen
ded
f
Lexical
Syntactic
Page 56
Conclusions
The model demonstrates staged linguistic acquisition– No maturational triggers are employed– Training data are kept constant– Lexical items are required before compositions can
be derived
Page 57
Conclusions
The model demonstrates staged linguistic acquisition– No maturational triggers are employed– Training data are kept constant– Lexical items are required before compositions can
be derived
Can this work be extended into further stage transitions?