Systematic Interrelations Between Grapheme Frequencies and Word Length: Empirical Evidence from Slovene*

Abstract

This paper focuses on the question whether grapheme frequencies are in a direct relationship to word length. In other words, a possible interrelation between the frequency of graphemes and the length of linguistic units is discussed. Based on different Slovene text types it is shown that the Altmann-Menzerath law is an adequate theoretical explanation for the supposed interrelation between grapheme frequencies and the word length. Furthermore a linguistic interpretation of parameters of grapheme frequency models is offered.