The competition model explains language learning through the competition between thought processes. The concurrency model uses statistics and probability to interpret language, with different languages having different probabilities for the same sentence. The models use different scales to interpret language and view language acquisition as a complex cognitive process.
The competition model is a theory that seeks to explain how individuals learn and process language. The result of the competition between various thought processes serves as the cornerstone of this theory. The mind is said to compare different components of a sentence as a means of language development, for example. To explain their theory, creators Brian MacWhinney and Elizabeth Bates introduced different types of ladders to illustrate the competition model.
Statistics and probability are the main forces in the concurrency model. Certain factors influence how a listener processes a sentence, to the point that the sentence can have several possible interpretations. As the mind processes a sentence or phrase, it quickly calculates these different probabilities, often based on past experiences with similar sentence constructions and taught grammar rules for a given language. The mind fixes on the interpretation with the greatest suitability for a given situation.
Each language may have a different set of probabilities for the same sentence or sentiment based on each language’s developed rules. Various linguistic aspects, such as word order or sounds, establish the weighted probabilities and possibilities of interpreting a sentence. Since various languages place diverging levels of importance on each linguistic concept, the overall probabilities for each potential interpretive outcome will likely be quite mixed between languages. Language acquisition in the competition model begins when these competing probabilities are activated by cues and memory.
The concurrency model delineates different levels, or scales, at which language is interpreted. Synchronic scales detail basic word components that might give rise to competition, such as sounds and placement patterns. When aspects of morphology, syntax, and other grammatical areas begin to intertwine and interconnect in more complex ways, the ontogenic ladder of competition is used. In contrast, the phylogenic scale considers the social aspects of language, examining how language was developed as a tool for individuals to compete in social and cultural hierarchies.
In essence, complex thought processes act on a complex environment in the competition model. The competition model differs from nativist theories that place greater emphasis on innate genetic processes or empirical theories that value environmental influences such as education. Rather, the concurrency model views the process of understanding language as something like a sophisticated computer program. The brain collects seemingly meaningless information and gives meaning to that information through a process of cognitive calculations.
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