Coding efficiency in nominal inflection: expectedness and type frequency effects

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (s3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matías Guzmán Naranjo ◽  
Laura Becker
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Coding Efficiency ◽  
Consulting Psychology ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Nominal Inflection ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Correspondence Hypothesis

Abstract Since (Zipf, George Kingsley. 1935. The psychobiology of language: An introduction to dynamic philology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Zipf, George Kingsley. 1949. Human behavior and the principle of least effort. Journal of Consulting Psychology 13(3)), it has been known that more frequent lexical items tend to be shorter than less frequent ones, and this association between the length of an expression and its frequency has been applied to various grammatical patterns (syntactic, morphological, and phonological) and related to predictability or expectedness in the typological literature. However, the exact interactions of frequency and expectedness, their effect on shortening, and the mechanisms involved, are still not well understood. This paper proposes the Form-Expectedness Correspondence Hypothesis (fech), taking into account not only the frequency of expressions but their overall structure and distribution, and explores the fech in the domain of nominal inflection from a quantitative perspective.

Construction Grammar as Cognitive Structuralism: the interaction of constructional networks and processing in the diachronic evolution of English comparative correlatives

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
THOMAS HOFFMANN
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Secondary Role ◽  
The Family ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Processing Effects ◽  
Constructionist Approach ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Correspondence Hypothesis

Following the Uniformitarian Principle, the Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis (PGCH; Hawkins 2004) predicts a directionality in language change: if the same content can be expressed by two competing structures and one of these is easier to process (see Hawkins 1999, 2004), then the simpler structure will be preferred in performance. Consequently, it will be used more often with a greater range of different lexical items, which increases its type frequency and ultimately leads to it being more cognitively entrenched than its alternative (see Hawkins 2004: 6). As an analysis of the diachronic evolution of the family of English comparative correlative constructions (the more iconiccause–before–effectC1C2 constructionthe more you eat, the fatter you getvs the less iconiceffect–before–causeC2C1 constructionyou get the fatter, the more you eat) shows, however, the PGCH only played a secondary role in the genesis of this set of constructions. In this article, I will present a usage-based constructionist approach that allows researchers to reinterpret the classical Structuralist notion of gaps in the system as gaps in the mental constructional network. This type of Cognitive Structuralist analysis accounts for the presence of the less iconic C2C1 structure (and the absence of the more iconic C1C2 structure) in OE, the genesis of C1C2 structures at the end of the OE period as well as the processing effects predicted by the PGCH once both the C1C2 and the C2C1 constructions were in competition during the ME period.

Truncation to Subminimal Words in Early French

2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 211-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Demuth ◽  
Mark Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Probabilistic Approach ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Early Production ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Target Words

AbstractIt has commonly been proposed that there is a stage in development where children’s early productions are binary feet, or minimal words. However, the present study of a French-speaking child (1;1–1;8) finds an extended period where both CVC and disyllabic target words are truncated to CV after initially being produced as reduplicated CiVCiV forms. That is, the child appears to regress, failing to produce disyllabic forms that could be produced earlier. This article proposes an explanation for this apparent regression in terms of segmental-prosodic constraint interaction, where the child’s limited segmental inventory, in conjunction with the high frequency of CV lexical items in everyday French, conspire to yield subminimal truncations as “optimal” at this stage in development. These findings provide support for a growing body of literature showing the importance of both constraint interaction and frequency effects in early production, arguing for a more probabilistic approach to theories of language learning.

Sebirwa in Contact with Setswana

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth C. Zsiga ◽  
One Tlale Boyer
Keyword(s):  
Language Loss ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Far Eastern ◽  
The Village

Setswana, spoken by about 4.5 million people throughout Botswana, is well-known in the literature for “post-nasal devoicing,” in which /b/ and /l/ become [p]‌ and [t] after nasals, contra the expected, phonetically-grounded pattern of post-nasal voicing. Sebirwa, in contrast, has at most 15,000 speakers concentrated in the far eastern corner of the country. Sebirwa is being overwhelmed by Setswana, and in a process of “massive Tswananization,” has borrowed some aspects of post-nasal devoicing. Our analysis, based on fieldwork in the village of Molalatau, shows that the Sebirwa pattern is doubly unexpected: only /b/ devoices, not /d/ and /g/. We attribute the asymmetry to frequency effects from Setswana, where, due to a skewed voicing inventory, the majority of lexical items that exhibit the alternation have underlying /b/. We discuss the implications of this type of borrowing, both for the typology of alternations, and for patterns of language loss.

Type frequency influences phonological generalizations: Eliminating stressed open syllables with short vowels in West Germanic

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Mailhammer ◽  
William W. Kruger ◽  
Alexander Makiyama
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Phonological Change ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
The Relationship

A pivotal process in the loss of phonological quantity in West Germanic languages is what is traditionally known as Open Syllable Lengthening. Existing accounts have found no explanation for why languages such as English apply this change in less than 50% of the relevant cases. This paper presents the results of a corpus investigation of four West Germanic languages showing that whether Open Syllable Lengthening occurs in more than 50% of predicted cases correlates with the ratio of closed syllables with short vowels to open syllables with long vowels. We interpret this as the result of frequency effects that have markedly shaped the application of Open Syllable Lengthening in West Germanic. This has implications for phonological change in general, as well as for the relationship between stress and syllable structure in West Germanic languages.*

How much homophony is normal?

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
ABBY KAPLAN
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Monte Carlo Simulations ◽  
Lexical Frequency ◽  
Token Frequency ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
High Level ◽  
Phonemic Contrasts

This paper argues that neutralizing phonological alternations are sensitive to how much homophony they create among distinct lexical items: neutralizing rules create fewer homophones than expected. Building on a case study of Korean by Silverman (2010), I compare the neutralizing rules of Korean to a large number of hypothetical alternatives generated by Monte Carlo simulations. The simulations reveal that the actual rules of Korean frequently create far fewer homophones than similar (but unattested) rules, even when the rules that are compared are controlled for the number of phonemic contrasts they eliminate. These results suggest that phonological patterns are sensitive not only to high-level contrasts among phonemes but also to contrasts among individual lexical items. The effect is most pronounced when homophones are not weighted by frequency, a result that adds to evidence in the literature that the relevant measure of lexical frequency for many lexicon-sensitive phonological patterns is type frequency, not token frequency.

Lexical Comprehension in Young Children With Developmental Delays

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa A. Kouri
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Developmental Delays ◽  
Normal Development ◽  
Clinical Applications ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Comprehension Skills ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Lexical Concepts

Lexical comprehension skills were examined in 20 young children (aged 28–45 months) with developmental delays (DD) and 20 children (aged 19–34 months) with normal development (ND). Each was assigned to either a story-like script condition or a simple ostensive labeling condition in which the names of three novel object and action items were presented over two experimental sessions. During the experimental sessions, receptive knowledge of the lexical items was assessed through a series of target and generalization probes. Results indicated that all children, irrespective of group status, acquired more lexical concepts in the ostensive labeling condition than in the story narrative condition. Overall, both groups acquired more object than action words, although subjects with ND comprehended more action words than subjects with DD. More target than generalization items were also comprehended by both groups. It is concluded that young children’s comprehension of new lexical concepts is facilitated more by a context in which simple ostensive labels accompany the presentation of specific objects and actions than one in which objects and actions are surrounded by thematic and event-related information. Various clinical applications focusing on the lexical training of young children with DD are discussed.

Real Ear Sound Pressure Levels Developed by Three Portable Stereo System Earphones

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail L. MacLean ◽  
Andrew Stuart ◽  
Robert Stenstrom
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Test System ◽  
Output Frequency ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Adult Men ◽  
Frequency Responses ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sound Pressure Levels

Differences in real ear sound pressure levels (SPLs) with three portable stereo system (PSS) earphones (supraaural [Sony Model MDR-44], semiaural [Sony Model MDR-A15L], and insert [Sony Model MDR-E225]) were investigated. Twelve adult men served as subjects. Frequency response, high frequency average (HFA) output, peak output, peak output frequency, and overall RMS output for each PSS earphone were obtained with a probe tube microphone system (Fonix 6500 Hearing Aid Test System). Results indicated a significant difference in mean RMS outputs with nonsignificant differences in mean HFA outputs, peak outputs, and peak output frequencies among PSS earphones. Differences in mean overall RMS outputs were attributed to differences in low-frequency effects that were observed among the frequency responses of the three PSS earphones. It is suggested that one cannot assume equivalent real ear SPLs, with equivalent inputs, among different styles of PSS earphones.

Experience Matters

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (4) ◽  
pp. 254-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro S. Mendes ◽  
Karlos Luna ◽  
Pedro B. Albuquerque
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Judgments Of Learning ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Actual Frequency ◽  
Actual Word ◽  
High Frequency Words

Abstract. The present study tested if word frequency effects on judgments of learning (JOLs) are exclusively due to beliefs or if the direct experience with the items also plays a role. Across four experiments, participants read prompts about the frequency of the words (high/low), which could be congruent/incongruent with the words’ actual frequency. They made pre-study JOLs (except Experiment 1b), immediate JOLs, and completed a recall test. If experience drives the effect, JOLs should be based on actual word frequency rather than the prompts. Results showed higher pre-study JOLs for prompts of high frequency, but higher immediate JOLs for high-frequency words regardless of the prompt, suggesting an effect of direct experience with the words. In Experiments 2 and 3, we manipulated participants’ beliefs, finding a small effect of beliefs on JOLs. We conclude that, regarding word frequency, direct experience with the items seems more relevant than beliefs when making immediate JOLs.

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