Similarity, analogy and development in radical exemplar theory: A commentary on Ambridge (2020)

E V M  Lieven; Alissa Ferry; Anna Theakston; Katherine Twomey

doi:10.1177/0142723720909554

Similarity, analogy and development in radical exemplar theory: A commentary on Ambridge (2020)

E V M Lieven, Alissa Ferry, Anna Theakston, Katherine Twomey

Division of Psychology Communication and Human Neuroscience (L5)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

41 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

During language acquisition children generalise at multiple layers of granularity. Ambridge argues that abstraction-based accounts suffer from lumping (over-general abstractions) or splitting (over-precise abstractions). Ambridge argues that the only way to overcome this conundrum is in a purely exemplar/analogy-based system in which generalisations are based on similarity to individual exemplars. However, to move our understanding forward, radical exemplar theory must include clearly specified mechanisms for analogy and similarity computation, and must account for changes in children’s generalisations across development.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	600-603
Number of pages	4
Journal	First Language
Volume	40
Issue number	5-6
Early online date	3 Mar 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723720909554
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2020

Keywords

Analogy
competition
computational models
development
exemplar models
generalisation
mechanism

Access to Document

10.1177/0142723720909554Licence: Unspecified

Lieven et al_ambridge.commentary.revisionAccepted author manuscript, 23.6 KB

Cite this

@article{3de5ba7e3e404d1b938277679c9efb0d,

title = "Similarity, analogy and development in radical exemplar theory: A commentary on Ambridge (2020)",

abstract = "During language acquisition children generalise at multiple layers of granularity. Ambridge argues that abstraction-based accounts suffer from lumping (over-general abstractions) or splitting (over-precise abstractions). Ambridge argues that the only way to overcome this conundrum is in a purely exemplar/analogy-based system in which generalisations are based on similarity to individual exemplars. However, to move our understanding forward, radical exemplar theory must include clearly specified mechanisms for analogy and similarity computation, and must account for changes in children{\textquoteright}s generalisations across development.",

keywords = "Analogy, competition, computational models, development, exemplar models, generalisation, mechanism",

author = "Lieven, {E V M} and Alissa Ferry and Anna Theakston and Katherine Twomey",

note = "Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD). The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/S007113/1 and ES/L008955/1) is gratefully acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2020.",

year = "2020",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1177/0142723720909554",

language = "English",

volume = "40",

pages = "600--603",

journal = "First Language",

issn = "0142-7237",

publisher = "Sage Publications Ltd",

number = "5-6",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Similarity, analogy and development in radical exemplar theory: A commentary on Ambridge (2020)

AU - Lieven, E V M

AU - Ferry, Alissa

AU - Theakston, Anna

AU - Twomey, Katherine

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD). The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/S007113/1 and ES/L008955/1) is gratefully acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.

PY - 2020/10/1

Y1 - 2020/10/1

N2 - During language acquisition children generalise at multiple layers of granularity. Ambridge argues that abstraction-based accounts suffer from lumping (over-general abstractions) or splitting (over-precise abstractions). Ambridge argues that the only way to overcome this conundrum is in a purely exemplar/analogy-based system in which generalisations are based on similarity to individual exemplars. However, to move our understanding forward, radical exemplar theory must include clearly specified mechanisms for analogy and similarity computation, and must account for changes in children’s generalisations across development.

AB - During language acquisition children generalise at multiple layers of granularity. Ambridge argues that abstraction-based accounts suffer from lumping (over-general abstractions) or splitting (over-precise abstractions). Ambridge argues that the only way to overcome this conundrum is in a purely exemplar/analogy-based system in which generalisations are based on similarity to individual exemplars. However, to move our understanding forward, radical exemplar theory must include clearly specified mechanisms for analogy and similarity computation, and must account for changes in children’s generalisations across development.

KW - Analogy

KW - competition

KW - computational models

KW - development

KW - exemplar models

KW - generalisation

KW - mechanism

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081564896&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0142723720909554

DO - 10.1177/0142723720909554

M3 - Article

SN - 0142-7237

VL - 40

SP - 600

EP - 603

JO - First Language

JF - First Language

IS - 5-6

ER -

Similarity, analogy and development in radical exemplar theory: A commentary on Ambridge (2020)

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this