Empirical Methods of Linguistic Research. What you will learn How to write an empirical research paper How to design an experiment / a questionnaire How.

Präsentation zum Thema: "Empirical Methods of Linguistic Research. What you will learn How to write an empirical research paper How to design an experiment / a questionnaire How."—  Präsentation transkript:

1 Empirical Methods of Linguistic Research

2 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

3 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

4 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?

5 Language acquisition WhatWhoWhenWhereWhy Child 1 Child 2 Child 3 Child 4 113 207 27 22 56 101 67 60 12 7 22 18 42 57 20 5 44 15 8 5

6 Language acquisition WhatWhoWhenWhereWhyTotal Child 1 Child 2 Child 3 Child 4 113 207 27 22 56 101 67 60 12 7 22 18 42 57 20 5 44 15 8 5 267 387 144 110 Total3692845912472908 Table 1. Raw frequencies

7 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

8 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

9 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

10 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

11 (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

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

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

14 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

15 Corpus linguistics MeaningPercentageLength (words) Same Subject Bound InitialConditional73.04,145.391.9 Causal5.14,322.385.1 Temporal53.73,756.789.9 FinalConditional27.06,712,050,1 Causal95.87,517,937,0 Temporal46.35,722,054,2

16 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

17 Regularized throw strive dream hang light cleave 12 34 25 23 3 2

18 Historical linguistics RegularizedFrequency throw strive dream hang light cleave 12 34 25 23 3 2 462 601 337 755 347 125

19 Historical linguistics RegularizedFrequencyClass throw strive dream hang light cleave 12 34 25 23 3 2 462 601 337 755 347 125 234135234135

20 Historical linguistics RegularizedFrequencyClassPhonetics throw strive dream hang light cleave 12 34 25 23 3 2 462 601 337 755 347 125 234135234135 ++--+-++--+-

21 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

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

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

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

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

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

27 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

28 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

29 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

30 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

31 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

32 Linguistic typology VOOV AUX V V AUX 66 22 12 58