Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

Frequency-dependent Regularization in Constituent Ordering Preferences

Creative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
Abstract

We examine how idiosyncrasies of specific verbs in syntac-tic constructions affect constituent ordering preferences. Pre-vious work on binomial expressions in English has demon-strated that the polarization of ordering preferences for a givenbinomial type depends on its overall frequency. The higherthe frequency of a binomial type, the stronger and more ex-treme preference/regularization language users will have forone alternative over the other (e.g. “facts and techniques” >“techniques and facts”; “bread and butter” >>> “butter andbread”). Here using the dative constructions in English as thetest case, we show that the same frequency-dependent regular-ization exists in syntactic structures above the word level. Themore frequent a dative construction type is, governed by thehead verb, the stronger preference there is for one alternationover the other. Further, we present evidence that the regulariza-tion patterns can be accounted for via iterated learning model-ing of language change, suggesting that frequency-dependentregularization emerges via the interactions between languageproduction, language learning and cultural transmission.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View