Frequency effects in grammar and language use

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Frequency effects in grammar and language use

• Holger Diessel
• University of Jena
• holger.diessel_at_uni-jena.de
• http//www.holger-diessel.de/

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Linguistic structure and language use
Saussure language vs. parole
Chomsky competence vs. performance
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Recent debates

• Language use has an impact on the
  represen-tation, organization, and development of
  linguictic categories and rules.
• Frequency affects the use, representation, and
  development of linguistic knowledge.

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Hypotheses

• Language/grammar is a dynamical system that is
  constantly changing by virtue of the
  psychological processes involved in language use.

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Sentence comprehension
(1) Peter saw the man with the telescope.
Analysis 1 V NP PP
Analysis 2 V NP PP
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Ford et al. (1982)

• The women discussed the dogs on the beach.
• The women kept the dog on the beach.

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Ford et al. (1982)

• The woman discussed the dogs on the beach.
• The woman kept the dog on the beach.

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Ford et al. (1982)
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Juliano and Tanenhaus (1993)
(1) That is your seat. (2) Peter told me that
Sally cant come.
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Juliano and Tanenhaus (1993)
(1) That young fellow told Mary to leave.
short
(2) That Mary didnt come surprised us.
long
(3) The young man said that the event surprised
us. short
(4) The young man said that event surprised us.
long
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Juliano and Tanenhaus (1993)
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Jurafsky (1996)
VP
VP ? V NP XP .15
V
NP
PP
.15 x .81 .12
keep
the dogs
on the beach
keep V NP XP .81
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Jurafsky (1996)
VP ? V NP XP .15
VP
NP
NP ? NP PP .14
V
NP
PP
.19 x .39 x 14 .01
keep
the dogs
on the beach
keep V NP .19
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Hypothesis
Stochastic grammars are not radical enough
because language use does not simply enrich
(existing) grammatical categories by a
probability value but determines the structure
and organization of grammar.
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Usage-based model
Grammar is a dynamical system thatis constantly
changing by virtue of the psychological
mechanisms involved in language use.
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Zipfs law
Frequently used expressions tend to undergo
phonetic reduction.
Since frequently used expressions are more
easily predictable, they are more easily
identifiable even if they are phonetically
reduced.
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Pollack Pickett (1964)
Only about 50 of all words produced in
continuous speech are phonetically recognizable
in isolation.
Frequently used expressions are more easily
predictable.
Frequently used expressions may be shorter
because speakers have more practice producing
them.
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Krug (1998)
that is vs. thats we will vs.
well I have vs. Ive
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Krug (1998)
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Bybee Scheibman (1999)

• Tokens with an initial d and a full vowel dõt,
  dõn
• Tokens with an initial flap and a full vowel
  Qõt, Qõ
• Tokens with a flap and a reduced vowel Q??
• Tokens with just a reduced vowel Q??, ?

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Bybee Scheibman (1999)

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Bybee Scheibman (1999)

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Bybee Scheibman (1999)

• High frequency strings such as I dont know and
  I dont think have turned into processing units.

Processing units originate as variants of full
forms, but may become conventionalized.
The conventionalization of small biases in
language production leads to diachronic change.
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Grammaticalization

(1) Peters gonna talk to him.
time line
Frequency of use leads to semantic weakening and
formal reduction.
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The development of irregular verbs

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The development of do-support

• Old English
• (1) Know you where Peter is?
• (2) Peter knows not that we are here.

Present Day English (1) Do you know where Peter
is? (2) Peter does not know that we are here.
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Krug (2003)
They know not what they do.
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Two frequency effects

• Reduction effect
• Preserving effect

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Two types of markedness

• Structural markedness
• Behavioral markedness

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Structural markedness

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Structural markedness

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Structural markedness

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Structural markedness

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Structural markedness

• If singular nouns occur with an overt number
  marker, plural nouns also take a number marker.

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Structural markedness
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Structural markedness

• Frequently used categories are structurally
  unmarked because their endings have been reduced.
• Frequently used categories are structurally
  unmarked because they function as the default,
  and marking the default would be redundant.

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Local markedness

• Turkana
• Îa-muk1 shoes
• a-muk-àt shoe

English fish, deer, sheep
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Behavioral markedness
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Behavioral markedness
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Behavioral markedness

• The preserving effect of frequency accounts for
  behavioral markedness Frequent (irregular) forms
  can be memorized more easily than infrequent
  ones.

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Language acquisition

• The argument from the poverty of the stimulus
• The ambient language is so impoverished and
  degenerated that it is impossible to learn
  grammar from experience.

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Redington et al. (1998)
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Saffran et al. (1996)

• Infants as young as 08 months are able to
  detect complex distributional patterns in speech.

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Conclusion

• Frequency is an important determinant of
  linguistic knowledge (i.e. linguistic knowledge
  is fundamentally grounded in language
  experience).
• This challenges the rigid division between
  grammar and language use.

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Conclusion

• In the generative approach, grammar is a stable
  system and linguistic research seeks to determine
  the rules and categories that constitute the
  system.
• In the usage-based approach, grammar is a dynamic
  system and linguistic research seeks to
  characterize the mechanisms that drive the
  emergence of linguistic structure/categories.