英语句子层级结构计量分析  

A Quantitative Analysis of English Hierarchical Structure

作　　者：刘海涛[1] 敬应奇 LIU Haitao JING Yingqi(School of International Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

机构地区：[1]浙江大学外语学院,浙江杭州310058

出　　处：《外国语》2016年第6期2-11,共10页Journal of Foreign Languages

基　　金：国家社科基金重大项目"现代汉语计量语言学研究"(11&ZD188)

摘　　要：语言作为一个复杂适应系统有着自身的演化和发展规律,采用计量方法可探究语言的系统特性。本文在依存句法的理论框架下,利用大规模依存树库,通过构建层级结构计量指标,如节点数、层级数、层级距离、平均层级距离和英语平均层级距离,对英语句子的层级结构进行了量化分析。结果发现,英语句子的节点数、层级数和平均层级距离三者存在显著的正相关;层级数的分布呈正偏态,表明英语句子倾向于采用扁平型层级结构,且节点数越大偏态越明显;英语平均层级距离的阈值为4。As a complex adaptive system, language abides by certain laws in the course of evolution and development, which can be investigated through quantitative approaches. We use a large English dependency treebank to analyze the hierarchical structure of English sentences. Some particular measures such as vertice number （ VN ） , hierarchical number （HN） , hierarchical distance （HD） , mean hierarchical distance （MHD） and English mean hierarchi- cal distance （ MHD2 ） are introduced to evaluate the hierarchical structure of English sentences. We observe that there are significantly positive correlations between VN, HN, and MHD. A positive skew is also found in the distribution of HN, which indicates a preference for flatter structures in English sentences, and the skewness coefficient is increasing for more vertices. Furthermore, we propose a threshold below 4 for English MHD2.

关 键 词：英语层级结构 复杂适应系统 依存句法 平均层级距离 

分 类 号：H314.3[语言文字—英语]