The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun
The word order of a sentence is shaped by multiple principles. The principle of syntactic dependency distance minimization is in conflict with the principle of surprisal minimization (or predictability maximization) in single head syntactic dependency structures: while the former predicts that the h...
| Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Publication date: | 2025 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repository: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/428665 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/428665 https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09296174.2024.2400847 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Word order Surprisal minimization Compression Zipf’s law of abbreviation Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural |
| _version_ | 1878742773554741249 |
|---|---|
| author | Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X |
| author_browse | Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X |
| author_facet | Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X |
| author_role | author |
| collection | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| description | The word order of a sentence is shaped by multiple principles. The principle of syntactic dependency distance minimization is in conflict with the principle of surprisal minimization (or predictability maximization) in single head syntactic dependency structures: while the former predicts that the head should be placed at the centre of the linear arrangement, the latter predicts that the head should be placed at one of the ends (either first or last). A critical question is when surprisal minimization (or predictability maximization) should surpass syntactic dependency distance minimization. In the context of single head structures, it has been predicted that this is more likely to happen when two conditions are met, i.e. (a) fewer words are involved and (b) words are shorter. Here, we test the prediction on the noun phrase when it is composed of demonstrative, numeral, adjective, and noun. We find that, across preferred orders in languages, the noun tends to be placed at one of the ends, confirming the theoretical prediction. We also show evidence of anti-locality effects: syntactic dependency distances in preferred orders are longer than expected by chance. |
| eu_rights_str_mv | openAccess |
| format | article |
| id | ES_fc00c90594f2bcd4e6c0c366fb2ac3c9 |
| institution | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| instname_str | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| language | eng |
| network_acronym_str | ES |
| network_name_str | España |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/428665 |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| publisherStr | Taylor & Francis Group |
| reponame_str | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| spelling | The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X Word order Surprisal minimization Compression Zipf’s law of abbreviation Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural The word order of a sentence is shaped by multiple principles. The principle of syntactic dependency distance minimization is in conflict with the principle of surprisal minimization (or predictability maximization) in single head syntactic dependency structures: while the former predicts that the head should be placed at the centre of the linear arrangement, the latter predicts that the head should be placed at one of the ends (either first or last). A critical question is when surprisal minimization (or predictability maximization) should surpass syntactic dependency distance minimization. In the context of single head structures, it has been predicted that this is more likely to happen when two conditions are met, i.e. (a) fewer words are involved and (b) words are shorter. Here, we test the prediction on the noun phrase when it is composed of demonstrative, numeral, adjective, and noun. We find that, across preferred orders in languages, the noun tends to be placed at one of the ends, confirming the theoretical prediction. We also show evidence of anti-locality effects: syntactic dependency distances in preferred orders are longer than expected by chance. This research is supported by a recognition 2021 SGR-Cat (01266 LQMC) from AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the grants AGRUPS-2022 and AGRUPS-2023 from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Peer Reviewed Taylor & Francis Group https://hdl.handle.net/2117/428665 https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09296174.2024.2400847 |
| spellingShingle | The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X Word order Surprisal minimization Compression Zipf’s law of abbreviation Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural |
| title | The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun |
| title_full | The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun |
| title_fullStr | The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun |
| title_full_unstemmed | The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun |
| title_short | The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun |
| title_sort | The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun |
| topic | Word order Surprisal minimization Compression Zipf’s law of abbreviation Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural |
| topic_facet | Word order Surprisal minimization Compression Zipf’s law of abbreviation Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/428665 https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09296174.2024.2400847 |