Anti dependency distance minimization in short sequences. A graph theoretic approach

Abstract

Dependency distance minimization (DDm) is a word order principle favouring the placement of syntactically related words close to each other in sentences. Massive evidence of the principle has been reported for more than a decade with the help of syntactic dependency treebanks where long sentences abound. However, it has been predicted theoretically that the principle is more likely to be beaten in short sequences by the principle of surprisal minimization (predictability maximization). Here we introduce a simple binomial test to verify such a hypothesis. In short sentences, we find anti-DDm for some languages from different families. Our analysis of the syntactic dependency structures suggests that anti-DDm is produced by star trees.

arXiv commentLittle corrections before submitting the sources to production (English, format and typos); Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, in press

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• Bounds of the sum of edge lengths in linear arrangements of trees
• The optimal placement of the head in the noun phrase. The case of demonstrative, numeral, adjective and noun
• Who is the root in a syntactic dependency structure?