Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations

Distance minimization is a general principle of language. A special case of this principle in the domain of word order is swap distance minimization. This principle predicts that variations from a canonical order that are reached by fewer swaps of adjacent constituents are lest costly and thus more...

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Autores: Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X, Namboodiripad, Savithry
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/402627
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/402627
https://dx.doi.org/10.53482/2023_55_412
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Computational linguistics
Word order preferences
Canonical order
Swap distance minimization
Lingüística computacional
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural
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spelling Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundationsFerrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923XNamboodiripad, SavithryComputational linguisticsWord order preferencesCanonical orderSwap distance minimizationLingüística computacionalÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge naturalDistance minimization is a general principle of language. A special case of this principle in the domain of word order is swap distance minimization. This principle predicts that variations from a canonical order that are reached by fewer swaps of adjacent constituents are lest costly and thus more likely. Here we investigate the principle in the context of the triple formed by subject (S), object (O) and verb (V). We introduce the concept of word order rotation as a cognitive underpinning of that prediction. When the canonical order of a language is SOV, the principle predicts SOV < SVO, OSV < VSO, OVS < VOS, in order of increasing cognitive cost. We test the prediction in three flexible order SOV languages: Korean (Koreanic), Malayalam (Dravidian), and Sinhalese (Indo-European). Evidence of swap distance minimization is found in all three languages, but it is weaker in Sinhalese. Swap distance minimization is stronger than a preference for the canonical order in Korean and especially Malayalam.RFC is supported by a recognition 2021SGR-Cat (01266 LQMC) from AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the grants AGRUPS-2022 and AGRUPS-2023 from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.Peer Reviewed20232023-12-3120242024-02-22journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/402627https://dx.doi.org/10.53482/2023_55_412reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/4026272026-05-27T15:37:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations
title Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations
spellingShingle Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations
Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X
Computational linguistics
Word order preferences
Canonical order
Swap distance minimization
Lingüística computacional
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural
title_short Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations
title_full Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations
title_fullStr Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations
title_full_unstemmed Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations
title_sort Swap distance minimization in SOV languages: cognitive and mathematical foundations
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X
Namboodiripad, Savithry
author Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X
author_facet Ferrer Cancho, Ramon|||0000-0002-7820-923X
Namboodiripad, Savithry
author_role author
author2 Namboodiripad, Savithry
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Computational linguistics
Word order preferences
Canonical order
Swap distance minimization
Lingüística computacional
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural
topic Computational linguistics
Word order preferences
Canonical order
Swap distance minimization
Lingüística computacional
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial::Llenguatge natural
description Distance minimization is a general principle of language. A special case of this principle in the domain of word order is swap distance minimization. This principle predicts that variations from a canonical order that are reached by fewer swaps of adjacent constituents are lest costly and thus more likely. Here we investigate the principle in the context of the triple formed by subject (S), object (O) and verb (V). We introduce the concept of word order rotation as a cognitive underpinning of that prediction. When the canonical order of a language is SOV, the principle predicts SOV < SVO, OSV < VSO, OVS < VOS, in order of increasing cognitive cost. We test the prediction in three flexible order SOV languages: Korean (Koreanic), Malayalam (Dravidian), and Sinhalese (Indo-European). Evidence of swap distance minimization is found in all three languages, but it is weaker in Sinhalese. Swap distance minimization is stronger than a preference for the canonical order in Korean and especially Malayalam.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
2023-12-31
2024
2024-02-22
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2117/402627
https://dx.doi.org/10.53482/2023_55_412
url https://hdl.handle.net/2117/402627
https://dx.doi.org/10.53482/2023_55_412
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
instname_str Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
reponame_str UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
collection UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,301603

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