The competition model is a psycholinguistic theory of language acquisition and sentence processing developed by Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney in 1982. It proposes that the forms of natural languages are created, governed, constrained, acquired and used in the service of communicative functions, and that language processing works through competition among these functions for expression. The model is an emergentist account of language acquisition and processing, offered as an alternative to both strict innatist theories, which locate language ability in dedicated inborn structures, and strict empiricist theories, which treat language as learned purely from exposure. Under the model, patterns in language arise from a Darwinian-style process of competition and selection operating across several timescales at once, including the evolutionary, the developmental, the socially diffused, and the moment-to-moment.
Facts
Core Claimthe forms of natural languages are created, governed, constrained, acquired, and used in the service of communicative functions. 1 Origin YearMarks Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney own development of the model, per the Wikipedia article lead sentence. FAQs
Why do speakers of different languages interpret the same kind of sentence differently under the competition model?
Because each language gives its cues different validity: animacy matters little in English but a great deal in Italian.
The competition model says people work out a sentence's meaning by weighing cues such as word order, word endings and animacy, and giving each cue a weight learned from experience. A cue's weight depends on its validity, which combines how often the cue is present in a language (availability) and how often it points to the right interpretation (reliability). Because validity differs between languages, so do the weights. The source gives animacy as an example: it plays a minimal role in English but a major role in Italian. Learners of another language therefore have to learn which cues matter in that language.
Connections
Associated With
Both are emergentist accounts of language acquisition offered as alternatives to strict innatist theories.
Source Competition Model (Wikipedia)
Developed By
Source Competition Model (Wikipedia)
Source Competition Model (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Competition Model (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, first sentence
The Competition Model is a psycholinguistic theory of language acquisition and sentence processing, developed by Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney (1982).
Lead section, quoting MacWhinney, Bates and Kliegl 1984
the forms of natural languages are created, governed, constrained, acquired, and used in the service of communicative functions.
Associated With: Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition, Lead section
It is an emergentist theory of language acquisition and processing, serving as an alternative to strict innatist and empiricist theories.
Developed By: Elizabeth Bates, Lead section
The competition model is a psycholinguistic theory of language acquisition and sentence processing, developed by Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney (1982).
Developed By: Brian MacWhinney, Lead section
The competition model is a psycholinguistic theory of language acquisition and sentence processing, developed by Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney (1982).
In Group: Language Acquisition Processing Models, Lead
The competition model is a psycholinguistic theory of language acquisition and sentence processing, developed by Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney (1982).
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