Data-driven Language Typology

In this thesis we use statistical n-gram language models and the perplexity measure for language typology tasks. We interpret the perplexity of a language model as a distance measure when the model is applied on a phonetic transcript of a language the model wasn't originally trained on. We use these distance measures for detecting language families, detecting closely related languages, and for language family tree reproduction. We also study the sample sizes required to train the language models and make estimations on how large corpora are needed for the successful use of these methods. We find that trigram language models trained from automatically transcribed phonetic transcripts and the perplexity measure can be used for both detecting language families and for detecting closely related languages

Word classes of White Hmong: a computational approach

This thesis employs a computational approach to study the word classes in White Hmong, a minority language of Mainland Southeast Asia. It proposes an automatic discovery procedure for word classes based on a careful review and comparison of existing algorithms. Motivated by the distributional hypothesis, which posits that similar words occur in similar environments, the procedure represents words as vectors defined by pairwise co-occurrence. It then measures their grammatical similarity in terms of spatial proximity and clusters them into a hierarchical taxonomy. The procedure is applied to an unannotated corpus of White Hmong, yielding a classification of its lexicon. The classification is evaluated against known grammatical properties of the language, demonstrating the linguistic meaningfulness of the results

Foreign and domestic private investments in developing economies : cases in sub-Saharan Africa

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2020.ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The role of foreign-owned investments in the economic transformation of host economies cannot be overstated. Foreign-owned investments are associated with higher levels of employment; higher mean wages; technological transfer via spill-overs to domestic firms; high capital and export intensities. Through these positive features, foreign investments are generally associated with positive effects on economic growth. Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been cognisant of these positive benefits, as is manifested by their national development plans for the near future. As more foreign-owned investments have flowed in the region, there has been visible economic growth, but with dismal effects in terms of employment creation in both numbers and quality. Exportation remains low and the impact on poverty remains mild. These poor results undermine the strength of the supposedly empirical association between foreign-owned investments and economic transformation of typical host economies, at least in SSA. Existing empirical knowledge on the nature of foreign-owned investments in SSA and their likely effects on economic welfare of host economies has either remained scanty or mainly been at the macro level due to limited data. This thesis attempts to sidestep this challenge by utilizing three different firm-level data sets to examine the nature and effects of foreign investments in relation to domestic firms in SSA from a microeconomic perspective. Firstly, a relatively novel, unsupervised, machine-learning approach has been used to classify firms so as to study their characteristic features. In this attempt, firm-level performance features, which have empirically been found by existing studies to distinguish foreign from domestic firms, are re-examined. This inquiry is a robustness check for previous studies and is undertaken from both a one-country and a multi-country perspective. Most studies that have utilised firm-level data to classify firms have in most cases been based on assumptions specified a priori. Using performance indicators such as output, employment and exports, correlation results from these studies are reported based on these classifications. In this thesis, firms are classified and their performance features examined without prior assumptions set especially regarding data distribution. Agglomerative clustering methods have been used to generate groups of firms a posteriori before examining these groups descriptively along performance indicators. Key findings indicate that foreign-owned firms systematically differ from domestically owned firms along numerous performance indicators, while there is a high likelihood of intra-foreign-owned firms’ heterogeneities. In the second and final analysis, this thesis has employed regression and matching techniques with difference-in-differences estimation methods to investigate the existence and nature of effect of foreign ownership on firm-level performance in SSA. This thesis considers foreign ownership arising out of acquisition of a local firm by foreigners. This provides crucial evidence as to whether foreign-owned investments in SSA truly influence host economies’ welfare from a firm-level perspective. Empirical findings in this thesis indicate that, although cream-skimming is prevalent in foreign acquisition of formerly domestically owned firms, foreign ownership has positive effects on firm performance. This thesis finds positive acquisition effects on employment, wages, productivity, output, skill intensity, and capital investments. These positive effects are significant for wages, output, and productivity. By implication, through their effects at firm-level, foreign-owned investments are still a potential channel through which sustained welfare enhancements in SSA can be achieved, given well-intentioned policies being in place.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Die rol van beleggings in buitelandse besit in die ekonomiese transformasie van gasheerekonomieë kan nie oorbeklemtoon word nie. Beleggings in buitelandse besit hou verband met hoër indiensnemingsvlakke; hoër gemiddelde lone; tegnologiese oordrag via stortings na huishoudelike firmas; hoë kapitaal- en uitvoerintensiteite. Deur hierdie positiewe eienskappe word buitelandse beleggings meestal geassosieer met 'n positiewe uitwerking op ekonomiese groei. Hierdie positiewe voordele is bewus van die ekonomieë in Afrika suid van die Sahara (SSA), soos blyk uit hul nasionale ontwikkelingsplanne vir die nabye toekoms. Namate meer beleggings in buitelandse besit in die streek gevloei het, was daar sigbare ekonomiese groei, maar met 'n aaklige uitwerking wat betref die skepping van indiensneming in getalle en kwaliteit. Uitvoer bly laag en die impak op armoede bly mild. Hierdie swak resultate ondermyn die sterkte van die vermeende empiriese verband tussen beleggings in buitelandse besit en ekonomiese transformasie van tipiese gasheerekonomieë, ten minste in SSA. Bestaande empiriese kennis oor die aard van buitelandse beleggings in SSA en die waarskynlike gevolge daarvan vir die ekonomiese welvaart van gasheerekonomieë het nogal gebly of hoofsaaklik op makro-vlak gebly as gevolg van beperkte gegewens. Hierdie tesis poog om hierdie uitdaging te benadeel deur drie verskillende datastelle te gebruik om die aard en gevolge van buitelandse beleggings met betrekking tot plaaslike ondernemings in SSA vanuit 'n mikro-ekonomiese perspektief te ondersoek. Eerstens is 'n relatief nuwe, sonder toesig, masjienleer-benadering gebruik om ondernemings te klassifiseer om hul kenmerkende kenmerke te bestudeer. In hierdie poging word prestasie-funksies op firma-vlak, wat deur bestaande studies empiries gevind is om buitelandse en plaaslike ondernemings te onderskei, heroorweeg. Hierdie ondersoek is 'n robuustheidsondersoek vir vorige studies en word onderneem vanuit 'n een-land- en 'n multi-landse perspektief. Die meeste studies wat data op firma-vlak gebruik het om ondernemings te klassifiseer, is in die meeste gevalle gebaseer op a priori-aannames. Op grond van hierdie klassifikasies word prestasie-aanwysers soos uitset, indiensneming en uitvoere gerapporteer. In hierdie tesis word firmas geklassifiseer en hul prestasie-eienskappe ondersoek sonder voorafgaande aannames, veral met betrekking tot dataverspreiding. Agglomeratiewe groeperingsmetodes is gebruik om groepe firmas a posteriori te genereer voordat hierdie groepe beskrywend met prestasie-aanwysers ondersoek word. Belangrike bevindings dui aan dat ondernemings in buitelandse besit stelselmatig verskil van ondernemings in plaaslike besit volgens talle prestasie-aanwysers, terwyl die groot waarskynlikheid bestaan dat ondernemings in buitelandse besit se heterogeniteit bestaan. In die tweede en finale ontleding het hierdie tesis regressie- en bypassingstegnieke gebruik met beramingmetodes van difference-in-differences om die bestaan en aard van die effek van buitelandse eienaarskap op firma-vlakprestasie in SSA te ondersoek. In hierdie proefskrif word buitelandse eienaarskap voortspruitend uit die verkryging van 'n plaaslike firma deur buitelanders. Dit lewer 'n belangrike bewys of beleggings in buitelandse besit in SSA die welvaart van die gasheerekonomie werklik vanuit 'n vaste perspektief beïnvloed. Empiriese bevindings in hierdie proefskrif dui aan dat, hoewel kremskeep algemeen voorkom in die buitelandse verkryging van voorheen plaaslike ondernemings, buitelandse eienaarskap 'n positiewe uitwerking op die onderneming se prestasie het. Hierdie tesis vind verkrygingseffekte op indiensneming, lone, produktiwiteit, produksie en kapitaalbeleggings. Hierdie positiewe gevolge is beduidend vir lone, produksie en produktiwiteit. By implikasie is beleggings in buitelandse besit deur die gevolge daarvan op firma-vlak steeds 'n potensiële kanaal waardeur volgehoue welsynverbeterings in SSA bereik kan word, gegewe die goedbedoelde beleid wat bestaan.Doctora

Efficiency of spanish mutual fund companies

La tesis estuvo compuesta de dos partes: La primera titulada Eficiencia en las Empresas Españolas Gestoras de Fondos Mutuos: Enfoque Basado en los Slacks, se compuso de cuatro secciones o capítulos de la siguiente manera: La sección 2 ofreció una revisión de la literatura temprana del Análisis Envolvente de Datos (DEA), una breve explicación de los modelos básicos, una breve reseña de las principales contribuciones a la eficiencia en las instituciones financieras, y una discusión de los dos métodos más populares. La sección 3 describió el modelo teórico propuesto y las variables utilizadas en el análisis. Sección 4 ilustró los datos, el análisis empírico y los resultados, la influencia de las variables-retornos a escala, y los análisis de robustez. Finalmente, la sección 5 concluyó y resumió las principales resultados del estudio. El análisis de las diferencias de productividad entre las empresas en los últimos años podría hacer posible identificar el éxito o fracaso de las iniciativas de gestión y también puede poner de relieve las diferentes estrategias adoptadas por las empresas durante la crisis financiera. En la literatura observamos que una amplia investigación se ha dedicado a la productividad en las instituciones financieras, por lo que sabemos, sólo Zhao Yue (2010) y Medeiros (2010) han estudiado la eficiencia de las empresas de fondos de inversión y compañías de fondos de pensiones, respectivamente. Por una parte, Zhao y Yue (2010) examinan la eficiencia de los fondos en china basados en sus competencias básicas, analizando tanto la inversión / investigación y los subsistemas de marketing / servicio. Mientras que Medeiros (2010) analiza los cambios en la productividad total de una muestra de empresas portuguesas de fondos de pensiones desde 1994 hasta 2007 a través las medidas DEA y el índice de Malmquist. Una posible explicación de esta escasa literatura puede ser la dificultad de identificar las variables específicas para la evaluación adecuada de estas empresas, sin llegar sólo a la réplica de los estudios anteriores centrados bancos y compañías de seguros. Desarrollar modelos de evaluación adecuados para las empresas de fondos de inversión para disponer de un abanico de posibilidades con variables específicas de la industria, complementaría los modelos analizados en otros sectores financieros. Por lo tanto, se convierte en un reto el desarrollar nuevas propuestas específicas para la industria de fondos, que consideren adecuada selección de inputs y outputs propios para las empresas gestoras en lugar de la simple replica de los modelos previamente estudiados en banca y seguros. En el presente estudio se llena este vacío de la literatura financiera, pretendiendo arrojar una luz adicional mediante el análisis de la eficiencia de las empresas de fondos de inversión en España, la cual es una de las industrias de fondos más relevantes en el mercado Europeo. La coexistencia de pocas, muy grandes y bien diversificadas EGFMs, junto con un gran número de pequeños gestores especializados hace que sea difícil obtener evaluaciones apropiadas de la industria. Por lo tanto, se plantó una metodología propia para el estudio y una selección de variables específicas para analizar adecuadamente de modo heterogéneo el conjunto de empresas españolas del sector de fondos de inversión. Para llevar a cabo el estudio, fue aplicado Análisis Envolvente de Datos (DEA), uno de los métodos más populares de las últimas décadas para la evaluación de la eficiencia en el sector financiero (ver por ejemplo estudios como los de: Berg et al, 1991; Berg et al, 1993 ; Schaffnit et al, 1997; Mlima y Hjalmarsson, 2002; Cummins et al, 2004; Casu et al, 2004; Cummins y Xie, 2008; Cummins et al, 2010; Holod y Lewis, 2011), y por otro lado el análisis de rendimiento de las carteras institucionales con enfoque alternativo a las tradicionales medidas de desempeño, es decir el desempeño de las carteras se trabajó con las relaciones funcionales entre rentabilidad y riesgo asociadas con la hipótesis de comportamiento (ejemplos de estudios: Murthi et al, 1997; Basso y Funari, 2001; Gregoriou et al, 2005; Eling, 2006; Lozano y Gutiérrez, 2008a, 2008b). En esta primera parte del estudio se aplicó el modelo original (Tone, 2001) y un conjunto único de variables específicas propias para la industria de fondos que complementan los modelos tradicionales de la banca y los seguros, lo cual permitió una evaluación precisa y completa de la eficiencia global de las EGFMs. La segunda parte llamada Evaluación Adicional de la Eficiencia en las EGFMs, se compuso de tres secciones o capítulos, asi: sección 2 se examinaron los principales conceptos de las variaciones al enfoque SBM original y los resultados empíricos de estas variaciones en las EGFMs españolas. La sección 3 ilustró el fenómeno de la persistencia en los scores de eficiencia y determinó aquellos factores relevantes que podrían potencialmente conducir a los resultados de persistencia obtenidos por las empresas a lo largo de nuestro horizonte de estudio. Finalmente, la Sección 4 concluyó y resumió los principales resultados del estudio. La aplicación de un enfoque de frontera eficiente no-orientado utilizando el SBM dentro de la metodología DEA, propuesto por Tone (2001), se discutió en detalle en la Parte I para justificar esta técnica como una herramienta inicial y apropiada para obtener los índices de eficiencia de las EGFMs. La consistencia de los resultados de eficiencia obtenidos mediante el uso de diferentes medidas de las variables más polémicas incluidas en nuestro modelo demostró la solidez de nuestros resultados. Sin embargo, el DEA y sus diversos modelos no pueden identificar a los competidores «más similares» que pueden servir como punto de referencia para las empresas analizadas a la luz de las diferencias notables que potencialmente se encuentren entre las empresas evaluadas. Este aspecto podría limitar la exactitud de algunos resultados en la literatura, además es especialmente importante en aquellos sectores donde los competidores muestran características variadas, tales como la industria de fondos española. Por lo cual, el conjunto empresas que conforman la frontera eficiente del DEA puede estar formado por grandes empresas de fondos de propiedad de bancos y ello puede no ser una referencia adecuada para los pequeños gestores independientes, repercutiendo entonces en engañosos rankings de eficiencia. En segunda parte de la tesis, logramos superar esta limitación utilizando las variaciones recientes e inexploradas del SBM original, propuestas por Tone (2010). Estas variaciones permitieron la comparación de las empresas de fondos con los competidores de su verdadera referencia «más similares» de acuerdo con los recursos y los objetivos de gestión, logrando con ello trabajar con las diversas características de la industria de los fondos de inversión españoles. Como un primer paso para cuantificar el sesgo debido a la utilización de los conjuntos de referencia inadecuados de los competidores, se analizó el efecto de las mencionadas variaciones en los scores de eficiencia obtenidos por el SBM original. La aplicación de estas nuevas técnicas del SBM mejoró la precisión de los resultados y complementó la simple consideración de los retornos a escala variable (VRS) para evaluar la eficiencia de las DMUs con diferentes características de escala. Estas variaciones propuestas por Tone (2010) basan en los hiperplanos en lugar de los vértices de la frontera, lo le permite el método descubrir los competidores (facets) más adecuados con respecto cada DMU analizada. Por último, la aplicación del proceso de agrupamiento (clustering) propuesto por Tone (2010), nos permitió una evaluación refinada de empresas eficientes, centrando el análisis únicamente en los competidores de similares características. Nuestra propuesta de agrupamiento se basó en los activos administrados y esfuerzo en personal de las EGFMs, ya que, como se encontró en la Parte I (Cuadro I-3), un gran número de empresas pequeñas de fondos gestionan una cuota de mercado residual y por otro lado un número reducido de grandes empresas de fondos dominan la industria. Bajo estos criterios de agrupamiento, asumimos la hipótesis de que las empresas de fondos con tamaño homogéneos deberían tener las mismas oportunidades de alcanzar la eficiencia en todas las fases de gestión, resolviendo así los posibles efectos de escala en la etapa de distribución y comercialización que se hayan contemplado en la Parte I. Adicionalmente el uso de esta variación basada en agrupamientos de Tone (2010) permitió la identificación de las empresas localmente eficientes en relación con los competidores con características similares de agrupamiento. Adicionalmente se planteó la necesidad de comprobar en esta segunda parte del estudio si los patrones de eficiencia obtenidos por las técnicas anteriores son persistentes en el tiempo, es decir, si los resultados de eficiencia obtenidos por las diferentes etapas corresponden a patrones estables del proceso de gestión. De lo contrario, si los resultados de eficiencia estuvieron sujetos a una variabilidad considerable a lo largo del tiempo, que pondría en duda las conclusiones obtenidas para cada año y en determinadas EGFMs; es decir, no sería posible diferenciar las estrategias de gestión eficaces de otros factores temporales. El resultado buscado fue la separación de aquellas empresas que siguen claramente los patrones de gestión eficientes de otras empresas con resultados de gestión mucho más erráticos en relación con sus competidores. Este fenómeno de persistencia se ha debatido ampliamente en la literatura sobre los fondos de inversión, pero, hasta donde sabemos, nunca aplicado a las EGFMs. Para probar esta hipótesis, se utilizó un enfoque no paramétrico basado en grupos de eficiencia en lugar de corrientes cuartiles o quintiles de clasificación empleados en la literatura, ello nos permitió identificar grupos homogéneos de eficiencia para proporcionar una mayor fiabilidad a nuestras conclusiones

Trait similarity vs species similarity in coral reef ecology : test of improved monitoring methods using Southwest Madagascar reefs

Trait-based approaches are emerging in various fields of ecology, and are here developed for coral reefs. ‘Traits’ means biological characteristics of each species; thus closely related species may have different traits and distantly related species may share common traits. This promotes understanding of a system better than using species alone. Chapter One summarizes existing methods, mostly from plant ecology, explores their utility for corals, and an extensive review then extracts candidate Scleractinian traits (Chapter Two). A dataset of 26 key traits from 231 species from Southwest Madagascar was then collected using 68 reefs of several typologies along several natural and ‘use’ gradients (Chapter Three). This used over 7,000 photo-quadrats on reefs spanning over 200 km (Chapter Four). Trait-based approaches require species-level identification. However, where species are difficult to distinguish, a species-replacement methodology facilitated translation of species to trait-combinations (Chapter Four). Inter-specific trait similarity between the 231 corals and their 26 traits is examined (Chapter Five). In total, 13 groups of corals with highly similar trait-combinations were identified, in which species are functionally equivalent and which therefore can be considered as functionally interchangeable parts in the ecosystem. However, because one quarter of species had unique trait combinations, a functional group approach to surveying reefs may not adequately describe existing trait diversity. Therefore a methodological alternative to using functional groups alone was developed. A trait-based similarity coefficient (Tsim) was developed to take into account both species and trait combination similarities between reefs (Chapter Six). A R-based package that calculates and visualizes Tsim is provided. Tsim’s characteristics were compared to species-based coefficients (Renkonen similarity). Tsim identifies functionally similar reefs missed using species identity alone (Chapters Six and Seven), and can be used to determine reefs that have highly similar trait combinations while being very dissimilar in terms of species

The Financial Integration and Its Flipside with a Focus on Banking and Stock Markets of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Countries [védés előtt]

As a very popular research topic, the integration among financial markets has been studied by many researchers. This thesis aims to investigate the effect of financial integration on European markets from another point of view. For this reason, various researches have been combined to assess the impact of financial integration on different types of financial markets. This thesis focuses primarily on the CESEE region and covers Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Turkey. The countries are selected to be a sample from EU member states and EU candidates. Some CESEE countries are not included in the research due to some data limitations (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia, and Ukraine). This study uses and combines the results of the various research methodologies such as wavelet technique, cluster analysis, and GARCH models. After the introduction of the thesis and hypotheses, the second chapter explains financial integration and its impacts on Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European economies. In the third chapter of this thesis, cluster analysis gives us an overview of the banking sector clusters in Europe. “The Cluster Analysis of the Banking Sector in Europe” which is a part of “Economics and Management of Global Value Chains: Regional Clusters, Local Networks, and Entrepreneurship” was written with my co-author Saysi Sayaseng. By using banking sector ratios, similarities and differences in the sector have been analyzed. This chapter provides hints about the integrity of the union banking sector. The following chapter employs a wavelet method to investigate the co-movements of stock markets during the debt crisis and after with a focus on central and southeastern European economies and a member candidate country. “A Wavelet Coherence Analysis: Contagion in Emerging Countries Stock Markets” which was published in Periodica Polytechnica Social and Management Sciences is written with my co-author Ilhami Karahanoglu. This chapter allows the reader to see the uneven impacts of integration during and after the crisis. The fifth chapter of the thesis analyses the spillover effects causing by Germany, the US, and the UK to observe the relationship between developed and developing markets. Finally, the last chapter combines and concludes the results of the sections. As a combination of the results of the chapters, it can be concluded that financial integration in banking and stock markets of CESEE countries is limited. However, it would be expected for a union to be more integrated. The results of studies show that integration can be volatile from one country to another and from one period to another period. The results illustrate that observed countries can show similarities during the crisis, whereas the integration is difficult to diagnose during normal period especially. The analyses in the thesis are supporting each other by asserting that integration of banking and stock markets of CESEE and the western part of Europe is limited or it is not always in favor of CESEE economies

CRIS-IR 2006

The recognition of entities and their relationships in document collections is an important step towards the discovery of latent knowledge as well as to support knowledge management applications. The challenge lies on how to extract and correlate entities, aiming to answer key knowledge management questions, such as; who works with whom, on which projects, with which customers and on what research areas. The present work proposes a knowledge mining approach supported by information retrieval and text mining tasks in which its core is based on the correlation of textual elements through the LRD (Latent Relation Discovery) method. Our experiments show that LRD outperform better than other correlation methods. Also, we present an application in order to demonstrate the approach over knowledge management scenarios.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) Denmark's Electronic Research Librar

Biomechanical investigations of coordination during initial acceleration in highly trained to world class sprinters

Thesis (Sport Science (Biomechanics))--University of Pretoria, 2023.Initial sprint acceleration is a complex and dynamic skill, requiring the application of large forces to propel the body forwards. Effective force application is achieved through the use of joint and segment rotations in an organised and inter-related manner. While many of the isolated angular kinematic features associated with effective external force profiles are established, little is currently known about the relationships that exist between the key segments during the first steps of acceleration, i.e., the coordination of movement between functionally related elements. Through a series of three studies, this thesis explores inter- and intra-limb coordination during initial acceleration in sprinters ranging from highly trained to world class level, to enhance the understanding of sprint acceleration technique and performance. The first study provided a detailed description and quantification of inter-limb thigh-thigh, intra-limb shank-foot, and trunk-shank coordination during the first four steps of acceleration, and investigated changes in coordination between steps. Specific coordination features were identified and between-individual variation in coordination patterns in preparation for, or response to, the major transitions in the step cycle, i.e., touchdown and toe-off, were observed. Additionally, step-to-step changes in coordination and angular kinematics were identified, showing clearly differentiated coordination in step 1 compared to later steps. The second study utilised a novel application of hierarchical cluster analysis to vector coding data in order to identify and characterise sub-groups of sprinters with similar thigh-thigh and shank-foot coordination patterns, and subsequently explored discrete kinematic and performance differences between sub-groups. Three sub-groups were identified in step 1 and two sub-groups over steps 2-4. Sub-groups tended to be differentiated by differences in thigh-thigh coordination at the beginning and end of the step, and shank-foot coordination during flight as well as during ankle dorsiflexion in early stance. Combining sub-groups from step 1 and steps 2-4 to describe entire initial acceleration strategies, cluster combinations identified coordination approaches more likely to be associated with higher level sprinters and better performance. In the final investigation, relationships between coordination and lower body strength were evaluated in the context of dynamical systems theory, and the interaction of these two factors with regard to acceleration performance was explored. Several correlations existed between measures of lower body strength and features of thigh-thigh and shank-foot coordination, while multiple regression analysis suggested the presence of interaction effects between coordination and tests associated with lower body power in relation to performance. Thus, lower body power appeared to influence the relationships between coordination features and performance, such that the effectiveness of particular coordination patterns varied depending the lower body power of the athlete. The work included in this thesis provides a basis for understanding coordination during initial sprint acceleration, and includes several novel and exploratory approaches to investigating these questions which provides relevant information for practitioners and coaches interested in exploring the organisation of the body and coordination of segments during initial acceleration. Moreover, this work facilitate the generation of new hypotheses and encourages new directions in future research.PhysiologyPhD Sport Science (Biomechanics)UnrestrictedFaculty of Health Science

Analogical classification in formal grammar

The organization of the lexicon, and especially the relations between groups of lexemes is a strongly debated topic in linguistics. Some authors have insisted on the lack of any structure of the lexicon. In this vein, Di Sciullo & Williams (1987: 3) claim that “[t]he lexicon is like a prison – it contains only the lawless, and the only thing that its inmates have in commonis lawlessness”. In the alternative view, the lexicon is assumed to have a rich structure that captures all regularities and partial regularities that exist between lexical entries.Two very different schools of linguistics have insisted on the organization of the lexicon. On the one hand, for theories like HPSG (Pollard & Sag 1994), but also some versions of construction grammar (Fillmore & Kay 1995), the lexicon is assumed to have a very rich structure which captures common grammatical properties between its members. In this approach, a type hierarchy organizes the lexicon according to common properties between items. For example, Koenig (1999: 4, among others), working from an HPSG perspective, claims that the lexicon “provides a unified model for partial regularties, medium-size generalizations, and truly productive processes”. On the other hand, from the perspective of usage-based linguistics, several authors have drawn attention to the fact that lexemes which share morphological or syntactic properties, tend to be organized in clusters of surface (phonological or semantic) similarity (Bybee & Slobin 1982; Skousen 1989; Eddington 1996). This approach, often called analogical, has developed highly accurate computational and non-computational models that can predict the classes to which lexemes belong. Like the organization of lexemes in type hierarchies, analogical relations between items help speakers to make sense of intricate systems, and reduce apparent complexity (Köpcke & Zubin 1984). Despite this core commonality, and despite the fact that most linguists seem to agree that analogy plays an important role in language, there has been remarkably little work on bringing together these two approaches. Formal grammar traditions have been very successful in capturing grammatical behaviour, but, in the process, have downplayed the role analogy plays in linguistics (Anderson 2015). In this work, I aim to change this state of affairs. First, by providing an explicit formalization of how analogy interacts with grammar, and second, by showing that analogical effects and relations closely mirror the structures in the lexicon. I will show that both formal grammar approaches, and usage-based analogical models, capture mutually compatible relations in the lexicon