Swap distance minimization shapes the order of subject, object and verb in languages of the world
Jairo Rios-El-Yazidi, Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho
TLDR
This paper shows swap distance minimization shapes word order variation in languages, even those without dominant SOV/SVO.
Key contributions
- Languages exhibit diverse subject-object-verb (SOV) orders beyond common SOV/SVO types.
- Many languages lack a dominant SOV order or don't fit typical patterns.
- Proposes "swap distance minimization" as a universal principle shaping word order variation.
- This principle explains word order in languages regardless of their dominant SOV/SVO status.
Why it matters
This paper introduces a universal principle, swap distance minimization, to explain word order variation across all languages. It provides a more comprehensive framework than existing models, which often focus only on common SOV/SVO patterns. This work significantly advances our understanding of linguistic structure and diversity.
Original Abstract
Languages of the world vary concerning the order of subject, object and verb. The most frequent dominant orders are SOV and SVO, and researchers have tailored models to this fact. However, there are still languages whose dominant order does not conform to these expectations or even lack a dominant order. Here we show that across linguistic families and macroareas, word order variation within languages is shaped by the principle of swap distance minimization even when the dominant order is not SOV/SVO and even when a dominant order is lacking.
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