Articlegreen2020

Dependency Locality as an Explanatory Principle for Word Order

Richard Futrell · Roger Lévy · Edward A. F. Gibson

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Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation Natural Language Processing Techniques Language Development and Disorders

Abstract

This work focuses on explaining both grammatical universals of word order and quantitative word-order preferences in usage by means of a simple efficiency principle: dependency locality. In its simplest form, dependency locality holds that words linked in a syntactic dependency (any head–dependent relationship) should be close in linear order. We give large-scale corpus evidence that dependency locality predicts word order in both grammar and usage, beyond what would be expected from independently motivated principles, and demonstrate a means for dissociating grammar and usage in corpus studies. Finally, we discuss previously undocumented variation in dependency length and how it correlates with other linguistic features such as head direction, providing a rich set of explananda for future linguistic theories.

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References

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Cited by

2021Structural, Functional, and Processing Perspectives on Linguistic Island Effects 2023Why we need a gradient approach to word order 2022Crosslinguistic word order variation reflects evolutionary pressures of dependency and information locality 2024Language follows a distinct mode of extra-genomic evolution

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