陌生人的社会不会说不那么复杂的语言
Olena Shcherbakova1, Susanne Maria Michaelis1, Hannah J Haynie2
1Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
Science advances
|August 16, 2023
概括
在大型社会中,语言并不一定会变得简单. 这项研究没有发现任何证据表明,语法复杂性随着更多的发言者或非母语用户的减少而下降,这挑战了常见的语言理论.
科学领域:
- 语言学的语言学.
- 社会语言学 社会语言学
- 语言的演变 语言的演变
背景情况:
- 语言利基假设提出语言适应其社会环境.
- 它表明,许多母语和非母语使用者 (陌生人的社会) 的语言会失去语法区别.
- 相反,在小,孤立的社区的语言预测保持或扩大语法标记.
研究的目的:
- 用全球数据集实证测试语言利基假设.
- 研究社会人口学因素与语法复杂性之间的关系.
- 将语法复杂性分解为形态学 (融合) 和信息编码 (信息性).
主要方法:
- 利用格兰班克数据集,这是一个全球性的语法结构集合.
- 模拟了母语使用者数量,非母语使用者比例,语言邻居和语言地位对语法复杂性的影响.
- 在分析中控制空间和家族遗传自相关性.
主要成果:
- 在一些社会人口统计学因素和语法复杂性之间发现了微弱的积极关联.
- 没有观察到语法复杂性和社会人口统计因素之间的反向相关性.
- 数据不支持语言在大型,多元化的社区中变得简单的预测.
结论:
- 这项研究对社会语言环境直接影响语法复杂性的说法提出了质疑.
- 研究结果表明,除了说话者数量和语言接触之外的因素可能更有影响力.
- 语言利基假设,在目前的形式,没有得到这些全球语言数据的支持.
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