Structure and usage do not explain each other
An analysis of German word-initial clusters
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10295403 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard Wiese (0000-0001-7333-1589, Institut für Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft, Philipps-Universität Marburg , 35041 Marburg , Germany, corresponding author), Paula Orzechowska (0000-0002-0416-7305, Faculty of English , Adam Mickiewicz University , Poznań , Poland) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1259-1284 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-26 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/ling-2020-0030 |
| OpenAlex | W4386328501 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 40 |
The present study focuses on German word-initial consonant clusters and asks whether feature-based phonotactic preferences correlate with patterns of type and token frequencies in present-day usage. The corpus-based analyses are based on a comprehensive list of such clusters, representing current usage, and on a number of feature-based phonotactic preferences. Correlating the variables by means of a correlation analysis and a regression analysis leads to a number of observations relevant to the general topic of featural-segmental structures versus usage. First, out of eighteen correlations between (raw and logarithmic) type and token frequencies, and preferred feature patterns, only one significant correlation was found. Second, a regression analysis led to similar results: out of thirteen variables tested, only two contribute to logarithmic type and token frequencies. Only a limited set of cluster properties investigated in the present paper constitutes a relevant predictor of frequency measures. The study thus demonstrates, in accordance with other recent evidence, that preferred phonetic/phonological structures and their usage frequency constitute two separate domains for which distributions may not have to coincide
Cluster (spacecraft) · Consonant · Consonant cluster · Correlation · Feature (linguistics) · German · Linguistics · Logarithm · Natural language processing · Phonology · Phonotactics · Regression analysis · Security token · Set (abstract data type) · Speech recognition · Statistics · Vowel · Word (group theory) · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Speech and dialogue systems
The Sonority Controversy
Child Language, Aphasia and Phonological Universals
Phonology and Language Use
Exemplar dynamics
Probabilistic Phonotactics and Neighborhood Activation in Spoken Word Recognition
Feature Geometry and Dependency
The role of the sonority cycle in core syllabification
Determinants of Wordlikeness
Silbische und lexikalische Phonologie
Syllable Structure and Syllable-Related Processes in German
Distinctive Feature Theory
Feature-based generalisation as a source of gradient acceptability
Explaining sonority projection effects
Defying the stimulus
Sonority projection effect in French
Complexity in Polish Phonotactics
Event-related Potentials Reflecting the Processing of Phonological Constraint Violations
Morphonotactic and phonotactic processing in German-speaking adults
Sounding out Sonority
A Maximum Entropy Model of Phonotactics and Phonotactic Learning
Syllable structure and stress in Spanish
German
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |