Re-evaluating Phoneme Frequencies

Causal processes can give rise to distinctive distributions in the linguistic variables that they affect. Consequently, a secure understanding of a variable's distribution can hold a key to understanding the forces that have causally shaped it. A storied distribution in linguistics has been Zip...

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Main Authors: Jayden L. Macklin-Cordes, Erich R. Round
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570895/full
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spelling doaj-9b2237b42d144afb85aaf5e1c0aa89532020-11-25T04:11:20ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-11-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.570895570895Re-evaluating Phoneme FrequenciesJayden L. Macklin-Cordes0Erich R. Round1Erich R. Round2Erich R. Round3School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaSchool of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaDepartment of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, GermanySurrey Morphology Group, University of Surrey, Guildford, United KingdomCausal processes can give rise to distinctive distributions in the linguistic variables that they affect. Consequently, a secure understanding of a variable's distribution can hold a key to understanding the forces that have causally shaped it. A storied distribution in linguistics has been Zipf's law, a kind of power law. In the wake of a major debate in the sciences around power-law hypotheses and the unreliability of earlier methods of evaluating them, here we re-evaluate the distributions claimed to characterize phoneme frequencies. We infer the fit of power laws and three alternative distributions to 166 Australian languages, using a maximum likelihood framework. We find evidence supporting earlier results, but also nuancing them and increasing our understanding of them. Most notably, phonemic inventories appear to have a Zipfian-like frequency structure among their most-frequent members (though perhaps also a lognormal structure) but a geometric (or exponential) structure among the least-frequent. We compare these new insights the kinds of causal processes that affect the evolution of phonemic inventories over time, and identify a potential account for why, despite there being an important role for phonetic substance in phonemic change, we could still expect inventories with highly diverse phonetic content to share similar distributions of phoneme frequencies. We conclude with priorities for future work in this promising program of research.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570895/fullpower lawsZipf's lawphoneme inventoriesdistributionsmaximum likelihoodAustralian languages
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Jayden L. Macklin-Cordes
Erich R. Round
Erich R. Round
Erich R. Round
spellingShingle Jayden L. Macklin-Cordes
Erich R. Round
Erich R. Round
Erich R. Round
Re-evaluating Phoneme Frequencies
Frontiers in Psychology
power laws
Zipf's law
phoneme inventories
distributions
maximum likelihood
Australian languages
author_facet Jayden L. Macklin-Cordes
Erich R. Round
Erich R. Round
Erich R. Round
author_sort Jayden L. Macklin-Cordes
title Re-evaluating Phoneme Frequencies
title_short Re-evaluating Phoneme Frequencies
title_full Re-evaluating Phoneme Frequencies
title_fullStr Re-evaluating Phoneme Frequencies
title_full_unstemmed Re-evaluating Phoneme Frequencies
title_sort re-evaluating phoneme frequencies
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Psychology
issn 1664-1078
publishDate 2020-11-01
description Causal processes can give rise to distinctive distributions in the linguistic variables that they affect. Consequently, a secure understanding of a variable's distribution can hold a key to understanding the forces that have causally shaped it. A storied distribution in linguistics has been Zipf's law, a kind of power law. In the wake of a major debate in the sciences around power-law hypotheses and the unreliability of earlier methods of evaluating them, here we re-evaluate the distributions claimed to characterize phoneme frequencies. We infer the fit of power laws and three alternative distributions to 166 Australian languages, using a maximum likelihood framework. We find evidence supporting earlier results, but also nuancing them and increasing our understanding of them. Most notably, phonemic inventories appear to have a Zipfian-like frequency structure among their most-frequent members (though perhaps also a lognormal structure) but a geometric (or exponential) structure among the least-frequent. We compare these new insights the kinds of causal processes that affect the evolution of phonemic inventories over time, and identify a potential account for why, despite there being an important role for phonetic substance in phonemic change, we could still expect inventories with highly diverse phonetic content to share similar distributions of phoneme frequencies. We conclude with priorities for future work in this promising program of research.
topic power laws
Zipf's law
phoneme inventories
distributions
maximum likelihood
Australian languages
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570895/full
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