Quantitative Analysis Of Dependency Structures

Dependency analysis is increasingly used in computational linguistics and cognitive science. Surprisingly, compared with studies based on phrase structures, quantitative methods and dependency structure are rarely integrated in research.This is the first book that collects original contributions which quantitatively analyze dependency structures across different languages and text genres.

Dependency analysis is increasingly used in computational linguistics and cognitive science. Surprisingly, compared with studies based on phrase structures, quantitative methods and dependency structure are rarely integrated in research.This is the first book that collects original contributions which quantitatively analyze dependency structures across different languages and text genres.

Based on the large corpora of journalistic English, this title examines dependency relations and related properties at both syntactic and discourse levels, seeking to unravel the language patterns of real-life usage. With a focus on rank-frequency distribution, the author investigates the distribution of linguistic properties/units from the perspectives of properties, motifs and sequencings. At the syntactic level, the book analyses the following three dimensions: various combinations of a complete dependency structure, valency and dependency distance. At the discourse level, it proves that the elements can also form dependency relations by exploring (1) the rank-frequency distribution of Rhetorical Structure Theory relations, their motifs, discourse valency and discourse dependency distance; (2) whether there is top-down organisation or an inverted pyramid structure at all the three discourse levels; and (3) whether discourse dependency distances and valencies are lawfully distributed, following the same distribution patterns as those at the syntactic level. This book will be of great value for scholars and students of quantitative linguistics and computational linguistics and its practical insights will also benefit professionals of language teaching and journalistic writing.

Since 2002, FoLLI has awarded an annual prize for outstanding dissertations in the fields of Logic, Language and Information. This book is based on the PhD thesis of Marco Kuhlmann, joint winner of the E.W. Beth dissertation award in 2008. Kuhlmann’s thesis lays new theoretical foundations for the study of non-projective dependency grammars. These grammars are becoming increasingly important for approaches to statistical parsing in computational linguistics that deal with free word order and long-distance dependencies. The author provides new formal tools to define and understand dependency grammars, presents two new dependency language hierarchies with polynomial parsing algorithms, establishes the practical significance of these hierarchies through corpus studies, and links his work to the phrase-structure grammar tradition through an equivalence result with tree-adjoining grammars. The work bridges the gaps between linguistics and theoretical computer science, between theoretical and empirical approaches in computational linguistics, and between previously disconnected strands of formal language research.

Specialists in quantitative linguistics the world over have recourse to a solid and universal methodology. These days, their methods and mathematical models must also respond to new communication phenomena and the flood of data produced daily. While various disciplines (computer science, media science) have different ways of processing this onslaught of information, the linguistic approach is arguably the most relevant and effective. This book includes recent results from many renowned contemporary practitioners in the field. Our target audiences are academics, researchers, graduate students, and others involved in linguistics, digital humanities, and applied mathematics.

Bringing together cutting-edge research, this Handbook is the first comprehensive text to examine the pivotal role of working memory in first and second language acquisition, processing, impairments, and training. Authored by a stellar cast of distinguished scholars from around the world, the Handbook provides authoritative insights on work from diverse, multi-disciplinary perspectives, and introduces key models of working memory in relation to language. Following an introductory chapter by working memory pioneer Alan Baddeley, the collection is organized into thematic sections that discuss working memory in relation to: Theoretical models and measures; Linguistic theories and frameworks; First language processing; Bilingual acquisition and processing; and Language disorders, interventions, and instruction. The Handbook is sure to interest and benefit researchers, clinicians, speech therapists, and advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in linguistics, psychology, education, speech therapy, cognitive science, and neuroscience, or anyone seeking to learn more about language, cognition and the human mind.

Dependency grammar (DG) is an approach to the syntax of natural languages with a long and venerable tradition, yet awareness of its potential to serve as a basis for principled analyses of natural language syntax is minimal due to the predominance of phrase structure grammar (PSG). This book presents a DG of English with two main goals in mind. The first is to make the principles of dependency syntax accessible to a general audience so that the novice linguist as well as the seasoned syntactician becomes fully aware of what makes DG unique as an approach to the study of natural language syntax. The second is to present and develop a version of DG that then serves as a principled basis for the investigation of central areas of the syntax of English, such as long-distance dependencies, coordination, ellipsis, valency, etc. An overarching theme in all this is that DG is simple compared to PSG, yet despite this simplicity, it is quite effective at shedding light on the nature of syntactic phenomena.