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arXiv 1408.2699physics.soc-phcs.CL
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语言的内部和外部动态:来自英语历史语料库中动词规则性的证据

Internal and external dynamics in language: Evidence from verb regularity in a historical corpus of English

Institute for Complex Systems (ISC-CNR)(国家研究委员会复杂系统研究所(ISC-CNR));Sapienza University of Rome(罗马大学(Sapienza));Institute for Scientific Interchange (ISI)(科学交流研究所(ISI))

Christine F. Cuskley, Martina Pugliese, Claudio Castellano, Francesca Colaiori, Vittorio Loreto, Francesca Tria

摘要:

人类语言是受规则支配的,但这些规则几乎总是以不规则的形式存在例外。既然语言中的规则是有效的和多产的,那么不规则的持续存在就是一种反常现象。面对内在的(内生的)和外在的(外生的)压力,不规则性是如何持续的?在这里,我们解决这个问题,采取了详细的研究在美国历史英语语料库中的简单过去式动词。数据显示,语言是开放的,有许多新的动词进入。与此同时,现有的动词可能会由于内部动态而趋于规则化或不规则化,但总体而言,语言所承受的不规则量随着时间的推移大致保持不变。尽管词汇量不断增长,而且据推测,表达能力也随之增加,但不规则性并没有相应的增长。我们分析了一组不规则的,他们可能会坚持一组少数规则,随着时间的推移,允许增加的不规则性的稳定性。这些研究结果有助于语言系统如何成为规则统治的辩论,以及如何以及为什么他们维持例外的规则,提供洞察的出现和维护之间的相互作用的规则和例外的语言。

英文摘要:

Human languages are rule governed, but almost invariably these rules have exceptions in the form of irregularities. Since rules in language are efficient and productive, the persistence of irregularity is an anomaly. How does irregularity linger in the face of internal (endogenous) and external (exogenous) pressures to conform to a rule? Here we address this problem by taking a detailed look at simple past tense verbs in the Corpus of Historical American English. The data show that the language is open, with many new verbs entering. At the same time, existing verbs might tend to regularize or irregularize as a consequence of internal dynamics, but overall, the amount of irregularity sustained by the language stays roughly constant over time. Despite continuous vocabulary growth, and presumably, an attendant increase in expressive power, there is no corresponding growth in irregularity. We analyze the set of irregulars, showing they may adhere to a set of minority rules, allowing for increased stability of irregularity over time. These findings contribute to the debate on how language systems become rule governed, and how and why they sustain exceptions to rules, providing insight into the interplay between the emergence and maintenance of rules and exceptions in language.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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