New Literary Studies

New Literary Studies

The Study of Frequency Effects in Syntactic Structures

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Abstract
The writers of this paper introduce two kinds of linguistic frequency, type frequency and token frequency. Then, the effects of each kind of frequency on syntactic structures are analyzed. The token frequency effects are divided into two main types: conserving effect and reduction effect. The type frequency is mainly effective in syntactic productivity. The two effects of token frequency on syntax and their interaction with type frequency over time allows us to explain many situations in language that otherwise appear very arbitrary.

Keywords: Token frequency, type frequency, reduction effect, conserving effect, syntactic productivity

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  • Receive Date 21 May 2008
  • Revise Date 04 December 2010
  • Accept Date 16 January 2009