The Structure of the Lexicon and Phonotactic Information

Yang, Shiying

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Year:: 2021
Contributor:: Yang, Shiying (creator); Cohen Priva, Uriel (Advisor); Morgan, James (Reader); Wedel, Andrew (Reader); Brown University. Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Phonotactics
Extent:: xiii, 140 p.

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Description

Abstract:: Lexicons utilize a fraction of licit structures. Different theories predict either that lexicons prioritize contrastiveness or structural economy. However, if words in the lexicon do not conform to a trade-off between distinctiveness and similarity, what other functional pressures can be at play in shaping lexicon across different languages? I show that the monosyllabic lexicon of Mandarin is no more distinctive than a randomly sampled baseline using the same phonological inventory. I also show that, by comparing lexicons of 21 languages from different language families with randomly sampled lexicons based on the phonotactics of each language, the mean phonotactic information of the real lexicons is always lower than that of the samples. The results provide evidence for previously unstudied information constraints on the lexicon: It is possible that lexicons are subject to channel capacity considerations to keep the amount of information low in transmission. The results also have implications for phonotactic theories which assume that every choice is determined in its local context. The implication of the existence of an information transmission bottleneck on the structure of words that can be stored in lexicons suggests that languages are biased against having multiple high-information (low-probability) transitions in individual words. Finally, I explore the assumed facilitative effect of low-information on word processing by comparing acceptability ratings and reaction times from acceptability judgment tasks performed on non-words with fine-grained distinctions in phonotactic probabilities. I demonstrate that subjects do not show gradient sensitivity to words with different phonotactic probabilities, which brings to question how the information transmission bottleneck is involved in language evolution.
Notes:: Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 2021

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Citation

Yang, Shiying, "The Structure of the Lexicon and Phonotactic Information" (2021). Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:yp32daz6/

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Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences department.
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