Language Change as a Source of Word Order Correlations∗

Typological work has demonstrated that there are constraints on word order variation. For example, auxiliary verbs tend to precede content verbs in VO languages (Dryer 1992). Further, typologically recurrent structural preferences are reflected in language change. In this paper, we present agent-based modeling work that suggests that Filtered Learning Models (e.g. Kirby 1999) can capture the emergence of word order correlations over time. We identify limitations of the Filtered Learning Model of Kirby (1999), and demonstrate that an extended (filtered) version of the Variational Learning Model presented in Yang (2002) overcomes these limitations while preserving the insight that constraints on word order variation are emergent in a population through repeated cycles of language acquisition and use. 1 Structural preferences in typology and change 1.