Public Studies

To single out language learning characteristics that could lead to improvements in conlang design and teaching methods by identifying key difficulties in language learning.

The study showed that the largest issues with language learning were complexities surrounding verb tense and prepositional usage. Participants had trouble correctly identifying verb tenses when the verb itself was modified, but when verb tense was modified by separated words (adverbs in most cases) the participants were more likely to correctly identify the tense. Prepositions proved to be a problem in complex sentences. Participant responses varied when identifying what the preposition applied to, this is likely because the control language did not have a consistent means of removing prepositional ambiguity (much like many conlangs).

A theoretical language with limited vocabulary was created and participants were provided with a simple standardized tutorial. Once the participants covered the basics of the language, they were asked to correctly identify the meanings of various sentences written in the control language.

Varied indicates that the participants in this column did not consistently get the task correct or incorrect.

• [-] This study was limited to French, Spanish, and English speakers.
• [-] This study did not measure vocabulary learning patterns.