Smooth Signals and Syntactic Change
A large body of recent work argues that considerations of information density predict various phenomena in linguistic planning and production. However, the usefulness of an information theoretic account for explaining diachronic phenomena has remained under-explored. Here, we test the idea that spea...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/2/60 |
| _version_ | 1797540022717513728 |
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| author | Joel C. Wallenberg Rachael Bailes Christine Cuskley Anton Karl Ingason |
| author_facet | Joel C. Wallenberg Rachael Bailes Christine Cuskley Anton Karl Ingason |
| author_sort | Joel C. Wallenberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A large body of recent work argues that considerations of information density predict various phenomena in linguistic planning and production. However, the usefulness of an information theoretic account for explaining diachronic phenomena has remained under-explored. Here, we test the idea that speakers prefer informationally uniform utterances on diachronic data from historical English and Icelandic. Our results show that: (i) the information density approach allows us to predict that Subject and Object type will affect the frequencies of OV and VO in specific ways, creating a complex Constant Rate Effect, (ii) the bias towards information uniformity explains this CRE and may help to explain others, and (iii) communities of speakers are constant in their average target level of information uniformity over long periods of historical time. This finding is consistent with an understanding of this bias which places it deep in the human language faculty and the human faculty for communication. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:55:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5bf3e50cf5e54e32bc07110a9a6eaacf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:55:04Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-5bf3e50cf5e54e32bc07110a9a6eaacf2023-11-21T11:59:48ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2021-03-01626010.3390/languages6020060Smooth Signals and Syntactic ChangeJoel C. Wallenberg0Rachael Bailes1Christine Cuskley2Anton Karl Ingason3School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKSchool of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKSchool of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKHugvísindasvið, Íslensku- og menningardeild, University of Iceland, Sæmundargötu 2, 102 Reykjavík, IcelandA large body of recent work argues that considerations of information density predict various phenomena in linguistic planning and production. However, the usefulness of an information theoretic account for explaining diachronic phenomena has remained under-explored. Here, we test the idea that speakers prefer informationally uniform utterances on diachronic data from historical English and Icelandic. Our results show that: (i) the information density approach allows us to predict that Subject and Object type will affect the frequencies of OV and VO in specific ways, creating a complex Constant Rate Effect, (ii) the bias towards information uniformity explains this CRE and may help to explain others, and (iii) communities of speakers are constant in their average target level of information uniformity over long periods of historical time. This finding is consistent with an understanding of this bias which places it deep in the human language faculty and the human faculty for communication.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/2/60diachronic syntaxinformation theoryuniformityIcelandic (Old and Modern)English (Old, Middle, and Modern) |
| spellingShingle | Joel C. Wallenberg Rachael Bailes Christine Cuskley Anton Karl Ingason Smooth Signals and Syntactic Change Languages diachronic syntax information theory uniformity Icelandic (Old and Modern) English (Old, Middle, and Modern) |
| title | Smooth Signals and Syntactic Change |
| title_full | Smooth Signals and Syntactic Change |
| title_fullStr | Smooth Signals and Syntactic Change |
| title_full_unstemmed | Smooth Signals and Syntactic Change |
| title_short | Smooth Signals and Syntactic Change |
| title_sort | smooth signals and syntactic change |
| topic | diachronic syntax information theory uniformity Icelandic (Old and Modern) English (Old, Middle, and Modern) |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/2/60 |
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