[lingtalks] TODAY: Beth Hume (Ohio State University)

[Tara Boswell]

Today at 2pm, Beth Hume (Ohio State University) will give a colloquium  
in the UCSD Linguistics Department, in AP&M 4301.

:: Abstract ::

Nonmonotonic effects of frequency: Implications for the role of  
information in language

Elizabeth (Beth) Hume
Ohio State University

It is well established that the frequency with which a linguistic item  
occurs influences how it is perceived, processed and produced. This  
talk is concerned with an interesting observation regarding the  
influence of frequency on phonological variability: elements occurring  
with extreme values of frequency tend to be less stable and hence more  
variable than those with values closer to the mean. In this talk, I  
suggest that insights from Information Theory (Shannon & Weaver 1949)  
can help elucidate such nonmonotonic effects of frequency. IT is  
concerned with determining mathematically how much information is  
needed to convey a message: communication systems that maximize the  
amount of information being sent or received are the most efficient.

Along these lines it is proposed that elements prone to variability  
contribute minimally to the total information needed to successfully  
transmit a message in a given system. As such, they are less crucial  
for the meaningful transmission of a given message than elements that  
require more information. Thus, the message’s meaning does not depend  
on their accurate transmission. Interestingly, it is both elements  
that occur with very high frequency as well as those with very low  
frequency that contribute minimally to the meaning of a message.  
Similar arguments can be made for elements with very complex or very  
simple articulations, or with very low (or high, as will be shown)  
values of perceptual distinctiveness. .