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← Language & CommunicationIn language acquisition, which outcome reflects harmonic grammar's influence on a learner exposed to conflicting typological patterns?
A)Adopting the statistically dominant pattern
B)Overgeneralizing a less frequent pattern✓
C)Randomly alternating between patterns
D)Exclusively using the most complex structure
💡 Explanation
Harmonic Grammar posits that learners internally rank grammatical constraints; because conflicting patterns arise, a learner may overgeneralize a less frequent but 'harmonically aligned' pattern adhering to highly ranked constraints, therefore, mirroring an internalized bias rather than strict statistical dominance. This outcome, rather than random alternation or exclusive use of dominant patterns, reflects the nuanced constraint ranking.
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