Beyond the data gap: Children create languages, violate their input statistics, and exhibit critical periods

Abstract

Futrell and Mahowald argue language model (LM) success suggests humans may learn language entirely through domain-general statistical mechanisms. However, children differ crucially from LMs in their ability to surpass their input, their language learning trajectory, and the presence of a critical period. Until LMs account for these phenomena, it remains possible that human language acquisition is supported by innate, language-specific learning mechanisms.