word order, and language learnability: Insights from connectionist modeling

How does the existence of case systems, and strict word order patterns affect the learnability of a given language? We present a series of connectionist simulations, suggesting that both case and strict word order may facilitate syntactic acquisition by a sequential learning device. Our results are consistent with typological data concerning the frequencies with which different type of word order patterns occur across the languages of the world. Our model also accommodates patterns of syntactic development across several different languages. We conclude that non-linguistic constraints on general sequential-learning devices may help explain the relationship between case, word order, and learnability of individual languages