Sequence structure in children's speech reveals non-linear development of relations between syntactic and semantic categories

Sequence structure in children's speech reveals non-linear development of relations between syntactic and semantic categories | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Sequence structure in children's speech reveals non-linear development of relations between syntactic and semantic categories Maja Linke, Michael Ramscar This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6195082/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Psychology → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Why do children learn some words earlier than others? Can children's speech patterns reveal how their evolving representations of language determine what they learn? This study presents a systemic analysis of children's speech and uses low-dimensional embeddings to examine how the contextual knowledge reflected in their utterances reorganizes as linguistic experience increases. We show that the order and position of words in sequences produced by children from different age groups reflect changes in the way they represent categories of words. Rather than being ungrammatical, children's utterances seem to be structured by temporary grammars, which optimize the distribution of information in sequences. We demonstrate how semantic networks reorganize to support learning and suggest that English provides functionally ambiguous (multipurpose) categories to aid the reorganization of semantic spaces. These findings are intriguing and counterintuitive as they suggest that not knowing the exact meaning of words facilitates both learning and communication. Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Communication learning distributed representations language development sequence organization Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Psychology → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6195082","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":440148042,"identity":"2863edb8-bf1a-4c62-bd9d-c1a1551354ba","order_by":0,"name":"Maja Linke","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPmYGZjCDsYH5AJCSkCGohQ2hhS0BpIWHsBYGqBYGBh4DMElYCzvvYYMPDNvkmdvPfH51o8aCh4H98NEN+B3Gl5w4g+G2YWNP7jbrnGNAh/Gkpd3Ar4XH+DAPw23GxobcbcY5bEAtEjxmhLX8Ybht39j/5plxzj8itSQzMNxObJyRw/w4t41ILYY9BreTG2c8M2PO7ZPgYSPkF37+M8YSPypu227sT378OedbnRw/++FjeLVAADBGDBsY2CTA9hJWDgXywDj9QLTqUTAKRsEoGFEAAAwFP6adjwb8AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3538-5698","institution":"Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maja","middleName":"","lastName":"Linke","suffix":""},{"id":440148043,"identity":"c9042ae2-c3e6-4493-aa55-72530e714633","order_by":1,"name":"Michael Ramscar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michael","middleName":"","lastName":"Ramscar","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-03-10 11:36:31","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6195082/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6195082/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00380-w","type":"published","date":"2025-12-26T05:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":94863091,"identity":"939ce21b-9300-4c5c-bad1-eb3aeeb9cafd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-31 13:25:52","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":6228966,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"msLinkeRamscar.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6195082/v1/ece55eaaf55d8a00b932c36c.pdf"},{"id":94863090,"identity":"38d78210-1154-4702-8600-05417b2beb27","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-31 13:25:52","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":3827,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"NCOMMS2518773.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6195082/v1/83991907362fc4f38168318c.json"},{"id":101391327,"identity":"f9e3d32d-b075-4a3e-981f-1f1b16b14fa0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-29 08:26:26","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5186661,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"msLinkeRamscar.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6195082/v1_covered_f399f833-358f-473b-a56b-4c6c5b566342.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eSequence structure in children's speech reveals non-linear development of relations between syntactic and semantic categories\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"learning, distributed representations, language development, sequence organization","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6195082/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6195082/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Why do children learn some words earlier than others? 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