Frequency of use and basic vocabulary
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Andreea S. Calude
Abstract
We use corpora from 18 languages to study the frequency of basic words such as mother, sun, and red. We compare three lists, Swadesh-200, Swadesh-100, and the Leipzig-Jakarta list (Tadmor 2009), and find that they have a high average inter-correlation. Using the WOLD semantic categories and fields (Haspelmath and Tadmor 2009), we find regularities in the word meaning types that are most likely to deviate from the overall correlations, i.e. words whose frequency-of-use varies significantly, such as those encoded by function words and basic actions (do/make), spatial relations (left, right), cognition words (to know, when), or possession (to take). Our results indicate a core collection of basic meanings universally used with similar regularity, despite other linguistic pressures impinging on these frequencies.
Abstract
We use corpora from 18 languages to study the frequency of basic words such as mother, sun, and red. We compare three lists, Swadesh-200, Swadesh-100, and the Leipzig-Jakarta list (Tadmor 2009), and find that they have a high average inter-correlation. Using the WOLD semantic categories and fields (Haspelmath and Tadmor 2009), we find regularities in the word meaning types that are most likely to deviate from the overall correlations, i.e. words whose frequency-of-use varies significantly, such as those encoded by function words and basic actions (do/make), spatial relations (left, right), cognition words (to know, when), or possession (to take). Our results indicate a core collection of basic meanings universally used with similar regularity, despite other linguistic pressures impinging on these frequencies.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors and contributors vii
- Foreword ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Multilingual contrasts: Interfaces and integrations
- Methodological approaches in the study of linguistic relativity 17
- Frequency of use and basic vocabulary 45
- A contrastive study of colour terms in French and German causal constructions 73
- Compound verbs in English and Bulgarian and the relativity debate 97
- HERE, NEAR, FAR 121
- Cognitive maps of landmark orientation 151
- Is space-time metaphorical mapping universal? 183
-
Part II. Bilingual processing: Language representation and language use
- Efficiency of the bilingual mind 205
- About phonological, grammatical, and semantic accents in bilinguals’ language use and their cause 229
- Aging and bilingual processing 263
- L1-based prototypicality effects in L2 vocabulary learning 287
- Finding a wooden jandal in the jandal wood 309
- Name index 333
- Subject index 335
- Language index 337
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors and contributors vii
- Foreword ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Multilingual contrasts: Interfaces and integrations
- Methodological approaches in the study of linguistic relativity 17
- Frequency of use and basic vocabulary 45
- A contrastive study of colour terms in French and German causal constructions 73
- Compound verbs in English and Bulgarian and the relativity debate 97
- HERE, NEAR, FAR 121
- Cognitive maps of landmark orientation 151
- Is space-time metaphorical mapping universal? 183
-
Part II. Bilingual processing: Language representation and language use
- Efficiency of the bilingual mind 205
- About phonological, grammatical, and semantic accents in bilinguals’ language use and their cause 229
- Aging and bilingual processing 263
- L1-based prototypicality effects in L2 vocabulary learning 287
- Finding a wooden jandal in the jandal wood 309
- Name index 333
- Subject index 335
- Language index 337
