Longer Words, Easier-to-pronounce Phonems : A Pilot Study

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F25%3A00142355" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/25:00142355 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://www.juls.savba.sk/ediela/jc/2025/1/jc25-01.pdf" target="_blank" >https://www.juls.savba.sk/ediela/jc/2025/1/jc25-01.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/jazcas-2025-0032" target="_blank" >10.2478/jazcas-2025-0032</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Longer Words, Easier-to-pronounce Phonems : A Pilot Study

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

The study investigates the relationship between word length and phoneme sonority in six languages across diverse language families. Building on the principle of least effort and the Menzerath-Altmann law, the research analyzes phoneme sonority using translated New Testament texts in Bilua, Bola, Czech, Gagauz, Jamamadi, and Tongan. The findings reveal that in languages with complex syllables, the tendency of longer words to contain shorter syllables—consistent with the Menzerath-Altmann law—results in a higher proportion of vowels, thereby increasing the mean phoneme sonority. In contrast, languages with simple syllable structures exhibit either a decrease in mean phoneme sonority or no clear trend. Further, mean consonant sonority increases with word length in Bilua, Czech, and Gagauz, while no clear trend is observed in Bola, Jamamadi, and Tongan. Conversely, mean vowel sonority increases with word length in Bola, Jamamadi, and Tongan, but remains stable or decreases in Bilua, Czech, and Gagauz. Overall, the analysis reveals consistent patterns linking word length and sonority across all six languages.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Longer Words, Easier-to-pronounce Phonems : A Pilot Study

Popis výsledku anglicky

The study investigates the relationship between word length and phoneme sonority in six languages across diverse language families. Building on the principle of least effort and the Menzerath-Altmann law, the research analyzes phoneme sonority using translated New Testament texts in Bilua, Bola, Czech, Gagauz, Jamamadi, and Tongan. The findings reveal that in languages with complex syllables, the tendency of longer words to contain shorter syllables—consistent with the Menzerath-Altmann law—results in a higher proportion of vowels, thereby increasing the mean phoneme sonority. In contrast, languages with simple syllable structures exhibit either a decrease in mean phoneme sonority or no clear trend. Further, mean consonant sonority increases with word length in Bilua, Czech, and Gagauz, while no clear trend is observed in Bola, Jamamadi, and Tongan. Conversely, mean vowel sonority increases with word length in Bola, Jamamadi, and Tongan, but remains stable or decreases in Bilua, Czech, and Gagauz. Overall, the analysis reveals consistent patterns linking word length and sonority across all six languages.

Druh

J_SC - Článek v periodiku v databázi SCOPUS

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

60203 - Linguistics

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/EH23_025%2F0008726" target="_blank" >EH23_025/0008726: Celý život s jazykem: povaha a ontogeneze jazykové komunikace (LangInLife)</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2025

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

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

Název periodika

JAZYKOVEDNÝ ČASOPIS

ISSN

0021-5597

e-ISSN

1338-4287

Svazek periodika

76

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

1

Stát vydavatele periodika

SK - Slovenská republika

Počet stran výsledku

11

Strana od-do

355-365

Kód UT WoS článku

—

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-105024780674