Volume 7, Issue 1 -

As reflected by the distinction between types and tokens, frequency is standardly conceived of in a two-dimensional fashion. This conception draws on the linguistic hierarchy in that token frequency is calculated at a higher structural level than type frequency. The fact that the linguistic hierarchy consists of more than two levels raises the possibility of investigating frequency from a multiplanar angle. This approach is illustrated with a three-level analysis of derivational affixes in English, German, and Dutch. The lowest level represents the number of affix types, the intermediate level the number of words of which these affixes are a part, and the highest level the textual frequency of these affixed words. The three languages exhibit significant variation. While English shows a consistent increase, German shows a consistent decrease in the suffix-to-prefix ratios from the lower to the higher levels. Dutch is inconsistent in displaying an increase from the lowest to the intermediate level but a decrease from the intermediate to the highest level. A good part of the explanation for this difference lies in the disparate role of prefixing in the three languages. The multiplanar approach provides novel perspectives on a number of issues such as the locus of linguistic change. Preliminary evidence suggests that the loss of a lower-level unit may be accompanied by “collateral damage” at the higher level.

The present article deals with the study of the dynamics (development) of English-German hybrid compounds in the Carinthian newspaper Kleine Zeitung during 1995–2015. We test the development applying the Piotrowski law. To this end we have analyzed 21 issues of newspaper Kleine Zeitung for January (1995–2015). The data have been statistically processed. As a result, our analysis has corroborated the adequacy of the Piotrowski law for this phenomenon.

The present paper is a pilot study introducing a concept of computational biology – the closest string problem (CSP) – into linguistics. In quantitative studies, texts can be represented as sequences, and for any given set of sequences one can solve a CSP. The solution is called a consensus string (CS), which is a sequence that is „as close as possible to all the given strings“. In this article we solve some CSP’s resulting from the study of a Hungarian poem and illustrate possible interpretations.

We study lexical properties of different Serbian text types (poems, rock songs, different kinds of spoken language, prose, scientific and journalistic texts). We investigate characteristics and text parameters based on the frequency of word forms (relative frequencies, repeat rate, h-point and related indices). Relations between parameters are studied in order to identify the principal characteristics. We also apply techniques of multivariate analysis (cluster analysis, MDS) to classify the text types adequately. One additional objective of the present paper is to illustrate the functioning of these techniques in detail by explicit calculations of all programming steps.

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag fokussiert Formen von Modalitätsinterdependenzen (MID) in professionellen Kontexten. MID sind dabei definiert als Zusammenspiel komplexer Ausdrucksressourcen wie z. B. Sprechen, Schreiben und Visualisieren. Bisher fehlen Ansätze, Methoden und Tools für die systematische Beschreibung und Analyse der Formen und Funktionen von MID. Die vorliegende Untersuchung setzt an dieser Stelle an. Sie gliedert sich ein in Forschungen zur Multimodalität von Kommunikation. Ziel ist es, ein Modell für die Beschreibung und Analyse von MID vorzustellen. Ein Aspekt wird hier herausgegriffen und fallbeispielbezogen diskutiert: das Modality-taking . Der Begriff Modality-taking bezeichnet die aktive Zuwahl einer Ausdrucksressource durch einen Interaktionsbeteiligten und ihre explizite verbale oder in einer anderen Ausdrucksressource erfolgende Thematisierung. Erste Analyseergebnisse zeigen, dass Modality-taking im Vorfeld einer MID mit kommunikativen Funktionen im Interaktionsgeschehen (z. B. Ankündigen einer MID) verbunden ist.