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    Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Quantitative Linguistics on 1/4/2019, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09296174.2018.1560122

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Using rank-frequency and type-token statistics to compare morphological typology in the Celtic languages

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Using rank-frequency and type-token statistics to compare morphological typology in the Celtic languages. / Wilson, Andrew; Harvey, Rosie.
In: Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, 01.04.2019.

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Wilson A, Harvey R. Using rank-frequency and type-token statistics to compare morphological typology in the Celtic languages. Journal of Quantitative Linguistics. 2019 Apr 1. Epub 2019 Apr 1. doi: 10.1080/09296174.2018.1560122

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@article{39633b291c2544679c4b0a657e6590b1,
title = "Using rank-frequency and type-token statistics to compare morphological typology in the Celtic languages",
abstract = "Tristram (2009) applied Greenberg{\textquoteright}s (1960) synthetism index to compare three of the Celtic languages: Irish, Welsh, and Breton. She did not analyse samples of the other three Celtic languages – Scottish Gaelic, Manx, and Cornish. This paper expands on her work by comparing all six Celtic languages, including two periods of Irish (Early Modern and Present Day). The analysis is based on a random sample of 210 parallel psalm texts (30 for each language). However, Greenberg{\textquoteright}s synthetism index is problematic because there are no operational standards for counting morphemes within words. We therefore apply a newer typological indicator (B7; Popescu, Ma{\v c}utek & Altmann, 2009), which is based solely on lexical rank-frequency statistics. Following Kelih (2010), we also explore whether type-token counts alone can provide similar information. The B7 indicator shows that both varieties of Irish, together with Welsh and Cornish, tend more towards synthetism, whereas Manx tends more towards analytism. Breton and Scottish Gaelic do not show a clear tendency in either direction. Rankings using type-token statistics vary considerably and do not tell the same story.",
keywords = "typology, synthetism, rank-frequency statistics, type-token statistics, Celtic",
author = "Andrew Wilson and Rosie Harvey",
note = "This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Quantitative Linguistics on 1/4/2019, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09296174.2018.1560122",
year = "2019",
month = apr,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1080/09296174.2018.1560122",
language = "English",
journal = "Journal of Quantitative Linguistics",
issn = "0929-6174",
publisher = "Routledge",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Using rank-frequency and type-token statistics to compare morphological typology in the Celtic languages

AU - Wilson, Andrew

AU - Harvey, Rosie

N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Quantitative Linguistics on 1/4/2019, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09296174.2018.1560122

PY - 2019/4/1

Y1 - 2019/4/1

N2 - Tristram (2009) applied Greenberg’s (1960) synthetism index to compare three of the Celtic languages: Irish, Welsh, and Breton. She did not analyse samples of the other three Celtic languages – Scottish Gaelic, Manx, and Cornish. This paper expands on her work by comparing all six Celtic languages, including two periods of Irish (Early Modern and Present Day). The analysis is based on a random sample of 210 parallel psalm texts (30 for each language). However, Greenberg’s synthetism index is problematic because there are no operational standards for counting morphemes within words. We therefore apply a newer typological indicator (B7; Popescu, Mačutek & Altmann, 2009), which is based solely on lexical rank-frequency statistics. Following Kelih (2010), we also explore whether type-token counts alone can provide similar information. The B7 indicator shows that both varieties of Irish, together with Welsh and Cornish, tend more towards synthetism, whereas Manx tends more towards analytism. Breton and Scottish Gaelic do not show a clear tendency in either direction. Rankings using type-token statistics vary considerably and do not tell the same story.

AB - Tristram (2009) applied Greenberg’s (1960) synthetism index to compare three of the Celtic languages: Irish, Welsh, and Breton. She did not analyse samples of the other three Celtic languages – Scottish Gaelic, Manx, and Cornish. This paper expands on her work by comparing all six Celtic languages, including two periods of Irish (Early Modern and Present Day). The analysis is based on a random sample of 210 parallel psalm texts (30 for each language). However, Greenberg’s synthetism index is problematic because there are no operational standards for counting morphemes within words. We therefore apply a newer typological indicator (B7; Popescu, Mačutek & Altmann, 2009), which is based solely on lexical rank-frequency statistics. Following Kelih (2010), we also explore whether type-token counts alone can provide similar information. The B7 indicator shows that both varieties of Irish, together with Welsh and Cornish, tend more towards synthetism, whereas Manx tends more towards analytism. Breton and Scottish Gaelic do not show a clear tendency in either direction. Rankings using type-token statistics vary considerably and do not tell the same story.

KW - typology

KW - synthetism

KW - rank-frequency statistics

KW - type-token statistics

KW - Celtic

U2 - 10.1080/09296174.2018.1560122

DO - 10.1080/09296174.2018.1560122

M3 - Journal article

JO - Journal of Quantitative Linguistics

JF - Journal of Quantitative Linguistics

SN - 0929-6174

ER -