Information distribution and language structure - correlation of grammatical expressions of the noun/verb distinction and lexical information content in Tagalog, Indonesian and German

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Gerhard Heyer; Professor Dr. Nikolaus Himmelmann
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442315837

The topic is the manifestation of variability in the formal differentiation of word types at the discourse level: Does the different formal expression of the noun/verb distinction correlate with differences in the information content of the word forms? The prediction is that linguistic information is distributed differently in languages with weak formal differences between nouns and verbs than in languages with strong formal differences. In this project, Tagalog (low N / V distinction), German (strong N / V distinction) and Indonesian (intermediate position) will be compared.The methodology is to classify word forms on the basis of their information content into default (i.e. expectable) and non-default (i.e. surprising) forms and to check correlations with grammatically definable classes.The technological output is an analysis tool with the implementations of information theory-concepts.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants