How do agents learn?
l Learners try and form a grammar that is consistent with
the primary linguistic data they hear.
l Fundamental principle: learning is compression.
l Two processes on hearing a meaning-signal pair:
ˇ A rule is added to the grammar that is specific to that pair.
ˇ Search for ways of “compressing” the grammar. Are there pairs
of rules that can be subsumed under a single rule? Are there
duplicate rules?
l Compression process uncovers any generalisations in
the data.