Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks
Human language contains regular syntactic structures and grammatical patterns that should be detectable in their co-occurence networks. However, most standard complex network measures can hardly differentiate between co-occurence networks built from an empirical corpus and a body of scrambled text....
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2018
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89694 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/46351 |
| _version_ | 1811697304197922816 |
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| author | Goh, Woon Peng Luke, Kang-Kwong Cheong, Siew Ann |
| author2 | Ferrara, Emilio |
| author_facet | Ferrara, Emilio Goh, Woon Peng Luke, Kang-Kwong Cheong, Siew Ann |
| author_sort | Goh, Woon Peng |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Human language contains regular syntactic structures and grammatical patterns that should be detectable in their co-occurence networks. However, most standard complex network measures can hardly differentiate between co-occurence networks built from an empirical corpus and a body of scrambled text. In this work, we employ a motif extraction procedure to show that empirical networks have much greater motif densities. We demonstrate that motifs function as efficient and effective shortcuts in language networks, potentially explaining why we are able to generate and decipher language expressions so rapidly. Finally we suggest a link between motifs and constructions in Construction Grammar as well as speculate on the mechanisms behind the emergence of constructions in the early stages of language acquisition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:53:08Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/89694 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:53:08Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/896942020-10-08T06:25:57Z Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks Goh, Woon Peng Luke, Kang-Kwong Cheong, Siew Ann Ferrara, Emilio School of Humanities School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Interdisciplinary Graduate School (IGS) Complexity Institute Human Language Co-occurence Networks DRNTU::Humanities::Language Human language contains regular syntactic structures and grammatical patterns that should be detectable in their co-occurence networks. However, most standard complex network measures can hardly differentiate between co-occurence networks built from an empirical corpus and a body of scrambled text. In this work, we employ a motif extraction procedure to show that empirical networks have much greater motif densities. We demonstrate that motifs function as efficient and effective shortcuts in language networks, potentially explaining why we are able to generate and decipher language expressions so rapidly. Finally we suggest a link between motifs and constructions in Construction Grammar as well as speculate on the mechanisms behind the emergence of constructions in the early stages of language acquisition. Published version 2018-10-17T04:20:45Z 2019-12-06T17:31:21Z 2018-10-17T04:20:45Z 2019-12-06T17:31:21Z 2018 Journal Article Goh, W. P., Luke, K.-K., & Cheong, S. A. (2018). Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks. PLOS ONE, 13(9), e0203025-. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0203025 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89694 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/46351 10.1371/journal.pone.0203025 en PLOS ONE © 2018 Goh et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 18 p. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Human Language Co-occurence Networks DRNTU::Humanities::Language Goh, Woon Peng Luke, Kang-Kwong Cheong, Siew Ann Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks |
| title | Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks |
| title_full | Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks |
| title_fullStr | Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks |
| title_short | Functional shortcuts in language co-occurrence networks |
| title_sort | functional shortcuts in language co occurrence networks |
| topic | Human Language Co-occurence Networks DRNTU::Humanities::Language |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89694 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/46351 |
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