ABSTRACT
This chapter takes as its starting point a theory that views the learner of a phonology or syntax as actively constructing rules and grammars by forming hypotheses and abstract rules over available data. It consists of two parts, the first being the theory of the structure acquired and the second being the theory of the acquisition of that structure, specifically rules of a particular type. The chapter distinguishes algebraic and stochastic models and sets up the thesis that both models are required for explaining linguistic and acquisitional phenomena, and therefore a "grammar" is a paired algebraic representation and stochastic representation. The author also defines the type of algebraic and stochastic representations used and argues that each representational type handles certain linguistic phenomena well, others not at all, and that each type is associated with a particular reasoning or inferencing model.
