This commentary critiques Ambridge’s radical exemplar model of language acquisition using research from the Longitudinal Study of Early Language, which has tracked the language development of 30+ children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) since 2002. This research has demonstrated that the children’s capacity for abstraction at the grammatical level is not reducible to their lexical or pragmatic abilities. Moreover, the children’s capacity for generalization at the lexical semantic level is more impaired than their grammatical abstractions. These findings cannot be accounted for by Ambridge’s model of stored exemplars and domain-general analogizing.
Abdel-AzizA.KoverS.WagnerM.NaiglesL. R. (2018). The shape bias in children with ASD: Potential sources of individual differences. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 61, 2685–2702. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-RSAUT-18-0027
2.
AmbridgeB. (2020). Against stored abstractions: A radical exemplar model of language acquisition. First Language40(5-6): 509–559.
DurrlemanS.MarinisT.FranckJ. (2016). Syntactic complexity in the comprehension of wh-questions and relative clauses in typical language development and autism. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37(6), 1501–1527. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716416000059
GleitmanL. R. (1984). Biological predispositions to learn language. In MarlerP.TerraceH. (Eds.), The biology of learning (pp. 553–584). Springer-Verlflg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70094-1_27
8.
GoodwinA.FeinD.NaiglesL. R. (2012). Comprehension of wh-questions precedes their production in typical development and autism spectrum disorders. Autism Research, 5, 109–123. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1220
9.
JyotishiM.FeinD.NaiglesL. R. (2017). Investigating the grammatical and pragmatic origins of wh-questions in children with autism spectrum disorders. Frontiers in Cognitive Science, 8, Article 319. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00319
10.
LevyY. (1994). Modularity reconsidered. In LevyY. (Ed.), Other children, other languages (pp. 383–399). Lawrence Erlbaum.
11.
NaiglesL. R.FeinD. (2017). Looking through their eyes: Tracking early language comprehension in ASD. In NaiglesL. R. (Ed.), Innovative investigations of language in autism (pp. 49–70). APA Books/Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1037/15964-000.
12.
NaiglesL. R.KeltyE.JafferyR.FeinD. (2011). Abstractness and continuity in the syntactic development of young children with autism. Autism Research, 4, 422–437. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.223
13.
NaiglesL. R.TekS. (2017). ‘Form is easy, meaning is hard’ revisited: (Re) characterizing the strengths and weaknesses of language in children with autism. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 8. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1438
14.
NaiglesL. R.TovarA. T. (2012). Portable intermodal preferential looking (IPL): Investigating language comprehension in typically developing toddlers and young children with autism. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 70, Article e4331. https://doi.org/10.3791/4331
15.
NobleC. H.RowlandC. F.PineJ. M. (2011). Comprehension of argument structure and semantic roles: Evidence from English-learning children and the forced-choice pointing paradigm. Cognitive Science, 35(5), 963–982. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01175.x
16.
PerryL. K.SamuelsonL. K. (2011). The shape of the vocabulary predicts the shape of the bias. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, Article 345. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00345
17.
PotrzebaE.FeinD.NaiglesL. R. (2015). Investigating the shape bias in typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorders. Frontiers in Psychology: Cognition, 6, Article 446. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00446
18.
Tager-FlusbergH. (1994a). Dissociations in form and function in the acquisition of language by autistic children. In Tager-FlusbergH. (Ed.), Constraints on language acquisition: Studies of atypical children (pp. 175–194). Lawrence Erlbaum.
19.
Tager-FlusbergH. (1994b). The relationship between language and social cognition: Lessons from autism. In LevyY. (Ed.), Other children, other languages (pp. 359–382). Lawrence Erlbaum.
20.
TekS.JafferyG.FeinD.NaiglesL. R. (2008). Do children with autism show a shape bias in word learning?Autism Research, 1, 202–215. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.38
