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osu1343315752.pdf (4.25 MB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Cognitive Perspectives On English Word Order
Author Info
Collins, Michael Xavier
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1343315752
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2012, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Linguistics.
Abstract
Certain English constructions permit two semantically equivalent word orders. Corpus studies of these constructions reveal that one variant usually occurs much more frequently than the other. What cognitive process causes speakers to gravitate towards some orders while neglecting others? This thesis reviews three prominent psycholinguistic models of the relationship between word order and processing: Maximum Per Word Surprisal (MPWS) [Hale 2001], Uniform Information Density (UID) [Levy & Jaeger 2007, inter alia], and Dependency Length Minimization (DLM) [Gildea & Temperley 2009]. It then compares the predictions of each of these theories to actual human word order preferences. Quantifying the strength of each psycholinguistic factor yields many interesting insights into human cognition.
Committee
William Schuler, PhD (Advisor)
Peter Culicover, PhD (Committee Member)
Pages
76 p.
Subject Headings
Linguistics
Keywords
word order
;
cognition
;
information theory
;
uniform information density
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Citations
Collins, M. X. (2012).
Cognitive Perspectives On English Word Order
[Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1343315752
APA Style (7th edition)
Collins, Michael.
Cognitive Perspectives On English Word Order.
2012. Ohio State University, Master's thesis.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1343315752.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Collins, Michael. "Cognitive Perspectives On English Word Order." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1343315752
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
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Document number:
osu1343315752
Download Count:
1,950
Copyright Info
© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.