child-directed-language
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- PaperarXiv — Language & NLP (cs.CL)12 May 2026
Is Child-Directed Language Optimized for Word Learning? A Computational Study of Verb Meaning Acquisition
Francesca Padovani, Jaap Jumelet, Yevgen Matusevych, Arianna Bisazza
Neural language models trained on child-directed language (CDL) and spoken adult-directed language show similar resilience to syntactic disruption, suggesting that the spoken register, not CDL alone, facilitates verb meaning acquisition. Models exhibit a semantic-first trajectory where verb meanings emerge before syntactic proficiency, with this asynchrony most pronounced in spoken input. The findings indicate that previously attributed advantages of CDL may stem from broader spoken language properties.
Original abstract
Is child-directed language (CDL) optimized to support language learning, and which aspects of linguistic development does it facilitate? We investigate this question using neural language models trained on CDL versus adult-directed language (ADL). We selectively remove syntactic or lexical co-occurrence information from the model training data, and evaluate the impact of these manipulations on verb meaning acquisition. While disrupting syntax impairs learning across all datasets, models trained on CDL and spoken ADL show significantly higher resilience than those trained on written input. Tracking semantic and syntactic performance over training, we observe a semantic-first trajectory, with verb meanings emerging prior to robust syntactic proficiency, an asynchrony most pronounced in the spoken domain, especially CDL. These results suggest that the advantage for verb learning previously attributed to CDL may instead reflect broader properties of the spoken register, rather than a uniquely CDL-specific optimization.