The Impact of Word Order and Case Marking on Word and Structure Learning - An Artificial Language Learning Experiment

Abstract

In this artificial language learning experiment, we investigated how accessible different structural cues are (word order, case marking) and whether these cues bootstrap word learning. The results show that the accessibility depends on the learner’s native language. Exposure to a word order similar to their native language improved performance, allowing participants to use their word order knowledge to bootstrap word learning. Case marking helps structure learning if word order and case marking cues are familiar. However, participants learning a language with case marking could not use this cue to bootstrap word learning.