Cross-linguistic Information-Theoretic Modelling of Communicative Efficiency (C07*)

• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 232722074

Project C7 investigates the relationship between information density and linguistic encoding from a typological (cross-linguistic) perspective. We focus on word order variability and (1) investigate existing models of information density (dependency length, memory-surprisal tradeoff) in a parallel corpus of novels (CIEP+); (2) extend these models to take into account information structure (most importantly, givenness); and (3) verify hypotheses on the interaction between information theory (most importantly, surprisal), givenness and word order variability in CIEP+ as well as in the massive parallel Bible corpus.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1102: Information Density and Linguistic Encoding
• Applicant Institution: Universität des Saarlandes
• Project Head: Professorin Dr. Annemarie Verkerk