Linguistic emergence from a networks approach: The case of modern Chinese two-character words.

Haitao Liu,Jin Cong,Diego Raphael Amancio

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0259818

Haitao Liu, Jin Cong + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259818

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Abstract

The models of linguistic networks and their analytical tools constitute a potential methodology for investigating the formation of structural patterns in actual language use. Research with this methodology has just started, which can hopefully shed light on the emergent nature of linguistic structure. This study attempts to employ linguistic networks to investigate the formation of modern Chinese two-character words (as structural units based on the chunking of their component characters) in the actual use of modern Chinese, which manifests itself as continuous streams of Chinese characters. Network models were constructed based on authentic Chinese language data, with Chinese characters as nodes, their co-occurrence relations as directed links, and the co-occurrence frequencies as link weights. Quantitative analysis of the network models has shown that a Chinese two-character word can highlight itself as a two-node island, i.e., a cohesive sub-network with its two component characters co-occurring more frequently than they co-occur with the other characters. This highlighting mechanism may play a vital role in the formation and acquisition of two-character words in actual language use. Moreover, this mechanism may also throw some light on the emergence of other structural phenomena (with the chunking of specific linguistic units as their basis).

Highlights

The actual use of language has attracted increasing research interest in recent decades, especially regarding its role in the formation, acquisition, evolution, etc., of linguistic structure
This study explores the formation of Chinese two-character words (CTCWs) in the actual use of modern Chinese, which manifests itself as continuous streams of Chinese characters and which was modeled as character co-occurrence networks
With appropriate models and analytical techniques of linguistic networks, this study focuses on the emergence of CTCWs in the actual use of modern Chinese, which manifests itself as continuous streams of Chinese characters

Summary

Introduction

The actual use of language has attracted increasing research interest in recent decades, especially regarding its role in the formation, acquisition, evolution, etc., of linguistic structure. Viewed from a usage-based perspective, linguistic structure emerges from language experience based on exemplars of language use to which language users are exposed [1, 2]. The structural patterns generally lack natural boundaries in actual language use, they can establish themselves and can be extracted by language users by standing out through particular relational patterns (e.g., strong associations between their component units). This has been supported, directly or indirectly, by various studies [3,4,5], which suggest that the quantitative patterns of actual language use may shed light on the emergent nature of linguistic structure.

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