{"title":"Is the Menzerath-Altmann Law Specific to Certain Languages in Certain Registers?","authors":"Lirong Xu, Lianzhen He","doi":"10.1080/09296174.2018.1532158","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Since its formulation, the Menzerath-Altmann law (MAL) has gone through continuing validation and development when applied to different languages or different language units. However, whether the MAL still holds true irrespective of spoken or written register remains a controversial issue. This article endeavours to re-examine the MAL by investigating the correlation between the length of English sentences (measured in the number of clauses) and their constituting clause length (measured in the number of words) in both academic spoken and written registers. It is observed that the MAL is valid in both registers. Further, the fitted parameter values of the MAL can serve as good predictors for register differentiation.","PeriodicalId":45514,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Quantitative Linguistics","volume":"27 1","pages":"187 - 203"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2018-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/09296174.2018.1532158","citationCount":"9","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Quantitative Linguistics","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09296174.2018.1532158","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 9
Abstract
ABSTRACT Since its formulation, the Menzerath-Altmann law (MAL) has gone through continuing validation and development when applied to different languages or different language units. However, whether the MAL still holds true irrespective of spoken or written register remains a controversial issue. This article endeavours to re-examine the MAL by investigating the correlation between the length of English sentences (measured in the number of clauses) and their constituting clause length (measured in the number of words) in both academic spoken and written registers. It is observed that the MAL is valid in both registers. Further, the fitted parameter values of the MAL can serve as good predictors for register differentiation.
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Quantitative Linguistics is an international forum for the publication and discussion of research on the quantitative characteristics of language and text in an exact mathematical form. This approach, which is of growing interest, opens up important and exciting theoretical perspectives, as well as solutions for a wide range of practical problems such as machine learning or statistical parsing, by introducing into linguistics the methods and models of advanced scientific disciplines such as the natural sciences, economics, and psychology.
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
