Applying Zipf’s Law to English words in Croatian: A comparative study of frequency and word length
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F26%3ARQWKDJ8N" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/26:RQWKDJ8N - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/483182" target="_blank" >https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/483182</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.22210/suvlin.2025.099.02" target="_blank" >10.22210/suvlin.2025.099.02</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Applying Zipf’s Law to English words in Croatian: A comparative study of frequency and word length
Original language description
In corpus linguistics, the negative correlation between word frequency and word length is a well–documented phenomenon referred to as Zipf ’s law. This linguistic universal observed by Zipf, which posits that the length of a word is in an inverse relation to its frequency (but not necessarily proportional to), has also been confirmed by numerous studies, and its implications can be observed in different fields such as language teaching and cognitive language processing. However, there is a gap in research data when it comes to studying this phenomenon from the perspective of loanwords. Even though it has been observed that translation equivalents in Croatian generally exist for loanwords or English words that appear 5000 times or more in the Croatian corpus (ENGRI corpus), the question still remains why speakers of Croatian resort to using English words in such cases where first language (L1) equivalents exist. This paper examines the systematicity of the language universal that shorter words are more frequent when it comes to foreign (primarily English) words in the (Croatian) language, i.e. whether the most frequent English words are shorter than their Croatian equivalents. For the purpose of this research, the Database of English words and their equivalents in Croatian was examined. Results indicate that some degree of systematicity between word length and frequency can be observed, but they also highlight the need for incorporating a semantic component into the analysis. The results contribute to the theoretical discussion on language universals, and explain why Croatian users prefer English words and whether language economy is one of the reasons for the use of English words in Croatian.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
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Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Suvremena lingvistika
ISSN
05860296
e-ISSN
1847117X
Volume of the periodical
51
Issue of the periodical within the volume
99
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
18
Pages from-to
21-38
UT code for WoS article
001545177700002
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-105012455578