The cognitive and interactional causes of regularity in language

This grant seeks to address both these hypotheses. One strand of research applies artificial language learning methods, where children and adults attempt to learn miniature languages, to test for differences between adults and child learners, and the extent to which single learners can re-shape a language. A second strand features experiments where adult participants learn, transmit and interact using artificial languages, to simulate the transmission and use of language in a population and its consequences for linguistic structure.<br><br>Data record is empty and references to three separate data records at the Edinburgh DataShare and OSF archives attached to the project.

These are listed below as 'other repositories'. Child and adult participants were tested individually in the laboratory. Participants interacted with a computer program that automatically trained and tested them and recorded their output data.

Every experiment was overseen by an experimenter. The precise methods varied according to the particular study.