EM Clustering Method and First Language Acquisition

Language has been traditionally considered as a qualitative phenomenon that mainly requires hermeneutical methodologies to be studied, yet in recent decades – thanks to advances in data storage, processing and visualization – there has been a growing and fertile interest in analysing language by relying on statistics and quantitative methods. In light of these reasons, we think it is worth to try to explore databases made up of transcripted infant spoken language in order to verify whether and how underlying patterns and recurrent sequences of learning stages are at work during acquisition. In light of this, we think that EM clustering method can be useful to evaluate in a reliable way linguistic structures development over time.