Form-frequency correspondence in adjectives: A cross-linguistic corpus approach

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F21%3A10439979" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/21:10439979 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=6VjvHcyVqf" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=6VjvHcyVqf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.30842/alp23065737171458477" target="_blank" >10.30842/alp23065737171458477</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Form-frequency correspondence in adjectives: A cross-linguistic corpus approach

Original language description

The adjective has always been a puzzle despite the long-standing dis-cussion in the previous literature, e.g., [Chomsky 1970; Dixon 1982]. Cross-linguisti-cally, a substantial variation can be observed regarding the syntactic behavior of adjec-tives. Adjectives are more noun-like in some languages, while more verb-like in other languages [Wetzer 1992, 1996]. In some languages, adjectives are marked by a copula when used as predicates, while in other languages adjectives are used as predicates without any further marking. Likewise, adjectives behave differently across languages when used as modifiers. The aim of this study is twofold. The first aim is to explain the cross-linguistic coding pattern of adjectives with reference to the form-frequency correspondence hypothesis [Zipf 1935; Haspelmath 2008; Haspelmath et al. 2014; Haspelmath 2021]. The second aim is to test the hypothesis, using cross-linguistic corpus data from the Universal Dependencies Corpora [Nivre et al. 2017] and the BCC Mandarin Corpus [Xun et al. 2016]. According to the form-frequency correspondence hypothesis, the more frequent forms are less likely to be marked with extra markers. Within the realm of adjec-tives, the effect of the form-frequency correspondence hypothesis can be under-stood as follows. Firstly, the relative frequency of the attributive use of adjectives correlates negatively with the probability of their co-occurrence with a relativizer; secondly, the relative frequency of the predicative use of adjectives correlates negatively with the probability of their co-occurrence with a copula. These hypotheses are tested using the logistic regression model on the basis of an 84-language sam-ple from the Universal Dependencies Corpora, which is a suitable database for the purposes of the present study because it has cross-linguistically consistent annota-tion for parts of speech and their syntactic contexts. In addition, I have also tested the form-frequency correspondence hypothesis based on the data from the BCC Mandarin Chinese Corpus based on the frequency of different adjectives. These results have provided positive evidence for the form-frequency correspondence hy-pothesis.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_SC - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the SCOPUS database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60203 - Linguistics

Project

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Continuities

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Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Acta Linguistica Petropolitana

ISSN

2306-5737

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

17

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

RU - RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Number of pages

20

Pages from-to

458-477

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85123413601