Abstract
Can the promise of data-driven methods hold in historical linguistics? Can they detect salient syntactic changes and open new research avenues? I first use data-driven measures to detect patterns in the ARCHER corpus. Secondly, I qualitatively interpret the differences and build hypotheses. Thirdly, I validate these, with the Penn Corpora, investigating frequency and creativity. We observe several trends – among them: verbal (‘Doric’) style is decreasing, nominal (‘Attic’) style is increasing. A cascade from full to non-finite clause, and from paratactic to hypotactic style unfolds. Furthermore, constituent order is increasingly becoming fixed, strengthening the principle of dependency length minimisation. While data-driven approaches entail a complex interpretation step, their holistic perspective goes beyond well-trodden envelopes of variation to more global language models.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
