Probabilistic grammar and constructional predictability: Bayesian generalized additive models of &lt;i&gt;help&lt;/i&gt; + (to) Infinitive in varieties of web-based English

Natalia Levshina

doi:10.5334/gjgl.294

Abstract

The present study investigates the construction with help followed by the bare or to-infinitive in seven varieties of web-based English from Australia, Ghana, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica and the USA. In addition to various factors known from the literature, such as register, minimization of cognitive complexity and avoidance of identity (horror aequi), it studies the effect of predictability of the infinitive given help and the other way round on the language user’s choice between the constructional variants. These probabilistic constraints are tested in a series of Bayesian generalized additive mixed-effects regression models. The results demonstrate that the to-infinitive is particularly frequent in contexts with low predictability, or, in information-theoretic terms, with high information content. This tendency is interpreted as communicatively efficient behaviour, when more predictable units of discourse get less formal marking, and less predictable ones get more formal marking. However, the strength, shape and directionality of predictability effects exhibit variation across the countries, which demonstrates the importance of the cross-lectal perspective in research on communicative efficiency and other universal functional principles.

Highlights

The present paper investigates the English construction with help followed by the infinitive with or without to, as in (1):(1) a
The results demonstrate the importance of examining cross-lectal data when searching for universal functional principles of human language
They interact, such that the effect of to before help weakens with linguistic distance between help and the infinitive

Summary

Introduction

The present paper investigates the English construction with help followed by the infinitive with or without to, as in (1):(1) a. The present paper investigates the English construction with help followed by the infinitive with or without to, as in (1):. B. Mary helped John install the program. The construction help + (to) Infinitive is a rare case when this choice is possible in Present-Day English. Different factors have been proposed to explain when one or the other variant is preferred. Some of them are related to the universal functional principles of iconicity, minimization of cognitive complexity and avoidance of identity ( known as horror aequi). Morphological form and the presence or absence of the Helpee. Lohmann’s (2011) quantitative study of help in British English showed that the variation is multifactorial and probabilistic Morphological form and the presence or absence of the Helpee. Lohmann’s (2011) quantitative study of help in British English showed that the variation is multifactorial and probabilistic

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Conclusion