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Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language

Online ISBN:
9780199867271
Print ISBN:
9780195301571
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language

Joan Bybee
Joan Bybee

Professor of Linguistics

University of New Mexico
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Published online:
1 January 2010
Published in print:
25 January 2007
Online ISBN:
9780199867271
Print ISBN:
9780195301571
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book essentially argues for the importance of word frequency as a factor in the analysis and explanation of language structure. In other words, the roles of words and other linguistic phenomena such as morphology, phonology, and syntax are highly influenced by low, medium, or high frequency with which they occur. The book includes three decades of influential research in one thematic source. It provides an introductory overview that traces the development of thinking on this important subject. The discussion covers word frequency in lexical diffusion, morphophonemics, lexical and morphological conditioning of alternations using Spanish verbs as example, rules and schemas in the development and use of the English past tense, morphological classes as natural categories, regular morphology and lexicon, sequentiality as the basis of constituent structure, and mechanisms of change in grammaticization.

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