Empirical Methods of Linguistic Research

What you will learn How to write an empirical research paper How to design an experiment / a questionnaire How to describe frequency data (tables, graphs) How to analyse frequency data (statistics) Introduction to relevant computer software

Linguistic data Collection of written texts Transcripts of spoken language Large electronic corpora Experiments Questionnaire Dictionaries Diary data (child language) Reference grammars (linguistic typology) Videos

Language acquisition (1)What’s dat? (2)Who’s dat? (3)When do we leave? (4)Where’s Daddy? (5)Why’s dat? 1. Which WH-word is most frequent in early child language? 2. In which order do the WH words occur? 3. Does input frequency determine the order of acquisition?

Language acquisition WhatWhoWhenWhereWhy Child 1 Child 2 Child 3 Child

Language acquisition WhatWhoWhenWhereWhyTotal Child 1 Child 2 Child 3 Child Total Table 1. Raw frequencies

Language acquisition WhatWhoWhenWhereWhy% Child 1 Child 2 Child 3 Child 4 42,3 53,9 18,8 20,0 21,0 26,1 46,5 54,5 4,5 1,8 15,3 16,4 15,7 14,7 13,9 4,5 16,5 3,9 5,6 4,5 100 Total33,837,09,512,27,6100 Table 2. Mean proportions

Language acquisition Table 3. Age of first appearance WhatWhoWhenWhereWhy Child 1 Child 2 Child 3 Child 4 1;9 1;10 1;8 1;10 1;9 2;0 1;11 2;2 2;3 2;1 2;6 1;11 2;0 2;4 1;11 2;3 2,6 2,5 2,4 Mean age1;91;112;32;12;5

Language acquisition Table 4. Correlation TotalInput frequency (mean)First appearance (mean) What Who When Where Why 28,0 31,4 17,8 15,0 7,8 1;9 1;11 2;3 2;1 2,5

Language acquisition Table 5. Correlation (paired) Mother&Child 1Mother&Child 2... Child 1Mother 1Child 1Mother 1… What Who When Where Why 18,0 41,4 15,8 17,1 7,6 2;0 2;5 2;4 2;7 38,3 21,1 25,8 13,1 11,6 1;9 2;1 2;4 2;6 2;5

(1)a.When Peter arrived, Sally left. b.Sally left, when Peter arrived. (2)a.If you had talked to her, you would have heard about it. b.You would have heard about it, if you had talked to her. What determines the positioning of the adverbial clause? Corpus linguistics

MeaningPercentage InitialConditional73.0 Causal5.1 Temporal53.7 FinalConditional27.0 Causal95.8 Temporal46.3

Corpus linguistics MeaningPercentageLength (words) InitialConditional73.04,1 Causal5.14,3 Temporal53.73,7 FinalConditional27.06,7 Causal95.87,5 Temporal46.35,7

Corpus linguistics MeaningPercentageLength (words) Same Subject InitialConditional73.04,145.3 Causal5.14,322.3 Temporal53.73,756.7 FinalConditional27.06,712,0 Causal95.87,517,9 Temporal46.35,722,0

Corpus linguistics MeaningPercentageLength (words) Same Subject Bound InitialConditional73.04, Causal5.14, Temporal53.73, FinalConditional27.06,712,050,1 Causal95.87,517,937,0 Temporal46.35,722,054,2

English has lost about 200 irregular verbs since Old English. In a few cases, regular verbs have become irregular (e.g. catch –caught). Today there are only 180 irregular verbs left. 1.Is there still pressure to regularize irregular verbs in English? 2.What determines the regularization of irregular verbs? 3.Why have some regular verbs become regularized? Historical linguistics

Regularized throw strive dream hang light cleave

Historical linguistics RegularizedFrequency throw strive dream hang light cleave

Historical linguistics RegularizedFrequencyClass throw strive dream hang light cleave

Historical linguistics RegularizedFrequencyClassPhonetics throw strive dream hang light cleave

Complete the sentence: (1)Das ist der Mann …. (2)Das ist das Buch … (3)Das ist die Stadt … (4)Das ist jemand … (5)Das ist derjenige … Psycholinguistics/Cognitive Linguistics

Historical linguistics Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann …

Historical linguistics Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann …SUBJ OBJ

Historical linguistics Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann … Das ist das Buch … SUBJ OBJ

Historical linguistics Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann … Das ist das Buch … SUBJ OBJ SUBJ OBJ

Historical linguistics 2006Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann … Das ist das Buch … Das ist die Stadt … SUBJ OBJ SUBJ OBJ

Historical linguistics 2006Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann … Das ist das Buch … Das ist die Stadt … SUBJ OBJ OBL SUBJ OBL SUBJ OBJ SUBJ OBJ OBL

Historical linguistics 2006Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann … Das ist das Buch … Das ist die Stadt … Das ist jemand … SUBJ OBJ OBL SUBJ OBL SUBJ OBJ SUBJ OBJ OBL

Historical linguistics 2006Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann … Das ist das Buch … Das ist die Stadt … Das ist jemand … SUBJ OBJ OBL OBJ SUBJ OBL SUBJ OBJ SUBJ OBJ OBL OBJ

Historical linguistics 2006Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann … Das ist das Buch … Das ist die Stadt … Das ist jemand … Das ist derjenige … SUBJ OBJ OBL OBJ SUBJ OBL SUBJ OBJ SUBJ OBJ OBL OBJ

Historical linguistics 2006Subject 1Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4 Das ist der Mann … Das ist das Buch … Das ist die Stadt … Das ist jemand … Das ist derjenige … SUBJ OBJ OBL OBJ SUBJ OBL SUBJ OBJ SUBJ OBJ OBL OBJ SUBJ

Linguistic typology VOOV AUX V V AUX