Hartmann, Stefan  ORCID: 0000-0002-1186-7182; Koch, Nikolas ORCID: 0000-0001-6917-9318; Endesfelder Quick, Antje
(2021):
The Traceback method in child language acquisition research: Identifying patterns in early speech.
In: Language and Cognition, Vol. 13, No. 2: pp. 227-253
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Abstract
This paper discusses the traceback method, which has been the basis of some influential papers on first language acquisition. The method sets out to demonstrate that many or even all utterances in a test corpus (usually the last two sessions of recording) can be accounted for with the help of recurrent fixed strings (like What’s that?) or frame-and-slot patterns (like [What’s X?]) that can also be identified in the remaining dataset (i.e., the previous sessions of recording). This is taken as evidence that language learning is much more item-based than previously assumed. In the present paper we sketch the development of the method over the last two decades, and discuss its relation to usage-based theory, as well as the cognitive plausibility of its components, and we highlight both its potential and its limitations.
