The Principle of Indirect Means in language use and language structure

2006 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Bill Jirsa
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Structure

scholarly journals Conceptual Complexity and the Evolution of the Lexicon

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Parsimonious Explanation

Natural languages are filled with regularities. Where do these regularities come from? A parsimonious explanation is that these regularities emerge as a consequence of pressures within the broader context in which language is used: Communication among many cognitive systems. In this dissertation, I consider one particular regularity as a case study in how the dynamics of language use might shape language structure. Specifically, I focus on a bias in natural language to map long words on to conceptually complex meanings and short words on to conceptually simple meanings, or a complexity bias. Across a series of experimental and corpus studies, I explore whether languages and their speakers have a complexity bias, what conceptual complexity is, and what pressures might have lead to this bias over the course of language evolution. In the final chapter, I consider a broader range of linguistic phenomena and examine how aspects of language use might influence these structures.

What makes up a reportable event in a language? Motion events as an important test domain in linguistic typology

Linguistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 1659-1700
Author(s):  
Christiane von Stutterheim ◽  
Johannes Gerwien ◽  
Abassia Bouhaous ◽  
Mary Carroll ◽  
Monique Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Event Type ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Temporal Domain ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Naturalistic Scenes ◽  
Viewpoint Aspect ◽  
Tunisian Arabic ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractNumerous crosslinguistic studies on motion events have been carried out in investigating the scope of the two-fold typology “path versus manner” (Talmy 1985, 2000) and its possible implications. This typological contrast is too narrow as it stands, however, to account for the diversity found both within and across types. The present study is based on what can be termed a process-oriented perspective. It includes the analyses of all relevant conceptual domains notably the domain of temporality, in addition to space, and thus goes beyond previous studies. The languages studied differ typologically as follows: path is typically expressed in the verb in French and Tunisian Arabic in contrast to manner of motion in English and German, while in the temporal domain aspect is expressed grammatically in English and Tunisian Arabic but not in German and French. The study compares the representations which speakers construct when forming a reportable event as a response to video clips showing a series of naturalistic scenes in which an entity moves through space. The analysis includes the following conceptual categories: (1) the privileged event layer (manner vs. path) which drives the selection of breakpoints in the formation of event units when processing the visual input; (2) the privileged category in spatial framing (figure-based/ground-based) and (3) viewpoint aspect (phasal decomposition or not). We assume that each of these three cognitive categories is shaped specifically by language structure (both system and repertoire) and language use (frequency of constructions). The findings reveal systematic differences both across, as well as within, typologically related languages with respect to (1) the basic event type encoded, (2) the changes in quality expressed, (3) the total number of path segments encoded per situation, and (4) the number of path segments packaged into one utterance. The findings reveal what can be termed language-specific default settings along each of the conceptual dimensions and their interrelations which function as language specific attentional templates.

scholarly journals Bilingualism, pluralinguism expansion and sociolinguistic analysis in Uzbekistan during the years of independence

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 71-75
Author(s):  
Rafiqjon Zaripov Ergashboy ogli
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
World Languages ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Developed World ◽  
Language Influence ◽  
The Russian Language

The bilingualism phenomenon has long existed among people living in the territory of Uzbekistan, including Uzbeks, who are able to speak other languages in addition to their native language. Consequently linguistic and extralinguistic influences between the Arabic and Uzbek languages in Central Asia, in VII and VIII centuries it was formed the bilingualism phenomenon in the country. In the XIV-XV centuries, the Persian-Tajik language use in Central Asia expanded and its potential increased. By the XX century, unification of Central Asia to Russian Union, the Russian language influence on the Uzbek language increased. Uzbek-Russian bilingualism formed in Central Asia in parallel with the Uzbek-Arabic and Uzbek-Tajik bilingualism. By this, not only bilingualism, but also pluralinguism had grown significantly among the Uzbek people. Along with linguistic factors, extralinguistic factors also played an important role in Uzbek-Arabic, Uzbek-Tajik and Uzbek-Russian languages development. Within the independence years, the Uzbek language prestige has grown, its scope has expanded. However, some features aforecited languages are preserved in the Uzbek language structure, and these languages units are used in the lexical layer. Our people desire to learn languages is growing, other developed world languages are being studied, and the situation with multilingualism is growing. Similar aspects will be covered throughout the study.

The English comparative – language structure and language use

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTIN HILPERT
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Language Use ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Structure

Many English adjectives form the comparative in two ways, so that, for instance, prouder occurs alongside more proud. The availability of several forms raises the general questions of when and why speakers choose one variant over the other. The aim of this article is to identify factors of language structure and language use that underlie the comparative alternation and to determine their relative strengths on the basis of data from the BNC through a logistic regression analysis. The results suggest that the alternation is primarily governed by phonological factors, but that syntax and frequency of usage are of importance as well.

scholarly journals Efficiency in human languages: Corpus evidence for universal principles

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (s3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Levshina ◽  
Steven Moran
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Universal Principles ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Universal Feature ◽  
Introductory Paper ◽  
Communicative Efficiency ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
First Time ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract Over the last few years, there has been a growing interest in communicative efficiency. It has been argued that language users act efficiently, saving effort for processing and articulation, and that language structure and use reflect this tendency. The emergence of new corpus data has brought to life numerous studies on efficient language use in the lexicon, in morphosyntax, and in discourse and phonology in different languages. In this introductory paper, we discuss communicative efficiency in human languages, focusing on evidence of efficient language use found in multilingual corpora. The evidence suggests that efficiency is a universal feature of human language. We provide an overview of different manifestations of efficiency on different levels of language structure, and we discuss the major questions and findings so far, some of which are addressed for the first time in the contributions in this special collection.

Competition as a unifying concept for the study of language

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Berg
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Structure Variation ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Core Competition ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Processing Network ◽  
Over Time

With linguistics suffering from increasing fractionalization, it is necessary not to lose sight of the overall picture. It seems uncontroversial that the study of language consists of the following five components: processing, use, structure, variation, and change. While some of the relationships between these concepts have been investigated, a systematic integration of these components into a coherent framework is conspicuously missing. A modest attempt is made here to outline such a framework which makes the interrelationships of the components transparent. In all of these components, competition is found to play a key role. At its core, competition is a psycholinguistic effect which arises in the task of selecting an intended unit from among a number of elements concurrently activated in the processing network. The audible and visible outcome of the selection process is language use. Language structure is the prerequisite for competition in that it provides the set of competitors. When competition is low, consistent (i.e., invariant) language use emerges. When competition is high, language use is variable, i.e., synchronic variation occurs. When competition changes over time, language change takes place. Thus, it is language processing in general and competition in particular that constrains and binds together many phenomena of language use, structure, variation, and change.

Corpus-Based Investigations of Language Use

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 115-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Biber ◽  
Susan Conrad ◽  
Randi Reppen
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Full Understanding ◽  
Text Corpus ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Basic Level

On a basic level, there are two main areas of study within linguistics: language structure and language use. Language practioners as well as theoreticians must be concerned with both areas; that is, they need a full understanding of the structural resources available in a language as well as analyses of what speakers and writers actually do with those resources. Investigations of a representative text corpus—a principled collection of texts stored on computer—provide important insights into both of these domains and open new avenues of inquiry.

scholarly journals The grammar network, by language use, de Holger Diessel

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-224
Author(s):  
Karen Sampaio Braga Alonso ◽  
Diego Leite de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Language Structure

Livro resenhado:DIESSEL, H. The Grammar Network: How language structure is shaped by language use. Cambridge: University Press, 2019.

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