SEGMENTAL INVENTORY SIZE, WORD-LENGTH, AND COMMUNICATIVE EFFICIENCY

Authors
NETTLE D
Citation
D. Nettle, SEGMENTAL INVENTORY SIZE, WORD-LENGTH, AND COMMUNICATIVE EFFICIENCY, Linguistics, 33(2), 1995, pp. 359-367
Citations number
29
Categorie Soggetti
Language & Linguistics","Language & Linguistics
Journal title
Linguistics → ACNP
ISSN journal
00243949
Volume
33
Issue
2
Year of publication
1995
Pages
359 - 367
Database
ISI
SICI code
0024-3949(1995)33:2<359:SISWAC>2.0.ZU;2-0
Abstract
Functional theories of language structure predict that as the number o f contrastive segments in a language increases, the average length of a word will decrease. This relationship is found to hold for a sample of ten languages, and to fit the synergetic model Y = aX(b). The avera ge length of a word is approximately 7 +/- 2 segments. This correspond s to the proposed capacity of working memory.