Do Grammars Minimize Dependency Length?

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	Do Grammars Minimize Dependency Length?
Authors:	Gildea, Daniel¹ gildea@cs.rochester.edu, Temperley, David²
Source:	Cognitive Science. Mar2010, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p286-310. 25p. 3 Diagrams, 7 Charts.
Subject Terms:	Sentences (Grammar), Language & languages, Vocabulary, Examinations, Principle (Philosophy), Preference heterogeneity, Data, Grammar
Geographic Terms:	England, Germany
Abstract:	A well-established principle of language is that there is a preference for closely related words to be close together in the sentence. This can be expressed as a preference for dependency length minimization (DLM). In this study, we explore quantitatively the degree to which natural languages reflect DLM. We extract the dependencies from natural language text and reorder the words in such a way as to minimize dependency length. Comparing the original text with these optimal linearizations (and also with random linearizations) reveals the degree to which natural language minimizes dependency length. Tests on English data show that English shows a strong effect of DLM, with dependency length much closer to optimal than to random; the optimal English grammar also has many specific features in common with English. In German, too, dependency length is significantly less than random, but the effect is much weaker than in English. We conclude by speculating about some possible reasons for this difference between English and German. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	A well-established principle of language is that there is a preference for closely related words to be close together in the sentence. This can be expressed as a preference for dependency length minimization (DLM). In this study, we explore quantitatively the degree to which natural languages reflect DLM. We extract the dependencies from natural language text and reorder the words in such a way as to minimize dependency length. Comparing the original text with these optimal linearizations (and also with random linearizations) reveals the degree to which natural language minimizes dependency length. Tests on English data show that English shows a strong effect of DLM, with dependency length much closer to optimal than to random; the optimal English grammar also has many specific features in common with English. In German, too, dependency length is significantly less than random, but the effect is much weaker than in English. We conclude by speculating about some possible reasons for this difference between English and German. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	03640213
DOI:	10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01073.x