UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Productivity in Historical Linguistics: Computational Perspectives on Word-Formation in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2z1476f8 Author Sandell, Ryan Paul Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California University of California Los Angeles Productivity in Historical Linguistics Computational Perspectives on Word-Formation in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Indo-European Studies by Ryan Paul Sandell 2015 © Copyright by Ryan Paul Sandell 2015 Abstract of the Dissertation Productivity in Historical Linguistics Computational Perspectives on Word-Formation in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit by Ryan Paul Sandell Doctor of Philosophy in Indo-European Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Brent Harmon Vine, Chair “Productivity” is a simultaneously familiar and fraught topic for all linguists. Every linguist believes that he can recognize it, yet grasping what properties characterize a “productive” process in opposition to a non-productive one is difficult. The historical linguist ought to be particularly desperate for a definition that can be operationalized – distinguishing ar- chaism from innovation depends upon it. This dissertation is therefore first concerned with transforming “productivity” into an object that can be interrogated, and then seeking tools that can provide a useful characterization that object. On the explicitly diachronic side, I am concerned with how to measure, diagnose, and motivate changes in productivity. Cor- pora from two the oldest-attested Indo-European languages, Ancient Greek (here, mainly the Iliad and Odyssey, as well as the New Testament) and Vedic Sanskrit (here, mainly the R̥gveda) will guide and define these explorations. Within the realm of morphology and word- formation especially, I will argue that concerns about productivity rightly take pride of place in diachronic discussion, and that those discussions become more meaningful when made precise and psychologically motivated. This increased precision offers hope of accounting for diverse linguistic phenomena for which the presence or absence of morphological struc- ture is a crucial determinant. Overall, this work calls for the increased usage of corpus-based quantitative methods and computational modeling in the study of language change. ii The dissertation of Ryan Paul Sandell is approved. Stephanie J. Watkins H. Craig Melchert Bruce P. Hayes Brent Harmon Vine, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iii Per Chiara, perchè nessuno potrebbe meritarlo di più iv Table of Contents List of Figures ..................................... x List of Tables ..................................... xii Symbols ........................................ xiii Abbreviations ..................................... xv Transcription and Transliteration .......................... xvi Introduction ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 1 I Theoretical Bases of Morphological Productivity 4 1 Morphological Productivity: Its Definition and Relevance for Historical Linguistics :::::::::::::: 5 1.1 Where’s Morphology? ............................. 7 1.2 The Problem of ‘‘Productivity’’ in Historical Linguistics ........... 10 1.2.1 ‘‘Productivity’’ in Indo-European Linguistics ............. 12 1.2.2 Archaism versus Neubildung ..................... 12 1.2.3 Use of the Term ‘Productive’: Rau 2009 ................ 13 1.2.4 A Qualitative Diachronic Approach to Productivity: Gardani 2013 . 15 1.3 Theoretical Approaches to Morphological Productivity ........... 17 1.3.1 Defining Productivity ......................... 17 1.3.1.1 ‘‘Productivity’’ and ‘‘Potentiality’’ versus ‘‘Creativity’’ .. 19 1.3.1.2 Productivity as a Statistical Notion ............ 20 1.3.2 Explaining Productivity ........................ 21 1.3.2.1 Structural Factors ..................... 21 1.3.2.2 Measuring Productivity .................. 23 1.3.2.3 Productivity and Analogy ................. 23 1.3.2.4 Language Processing ................... 24 1.4 The Application of Productivity in Historical Linguistics ........... 25 1.4.1 Existing Diachronic and Historical Studies of Productivity ..... 26 1.4.2 Archaisms, Neubildungen, and Nonce-Formations ......... 28 1.4.3 Productivity in Reconstruction .................... 30 v 2 Measuring Morphological Productivity :::::::::::::::::::: 32 2.1 Chapter Goals ................................. 32 2.2 Productivity and Word Frequency: Statistical Bases of Word Frequency Dis- tributions in Corpora ............................. 33 2.2.1 hapax legomena ............................ 34 2.2.2 Measures of Productivity: From “Strict” P to “Potential” I .... 35 2.2.3 Word Frequency Distributions .................... 42 2.2.3.1 Calculation of I ..................... 50 2.2.3.2 Comparing Productivity Measures ............ 51 2.3 Modeling Morphological Change: Productivity as Analogy .......... 55 2.3.1 Analogical Learning Techniques ................... 56 2.3.2 Minimal Generalization Learning .................. 59 3 The Psycholinguistic Bases of Productivity :::::::::::::::::: 63 3.1 Frequency, Probability, and Learning: Domain-General and in Language .. 64 3.1.1 Frequency Sensitivity: Why and How? ................ 67 3.1.2 Frequency Effects and Statistical Learning in Language ....... 68 3.1.2.1 Phonetics and Phonology ................. 69 3.1.2.2 Syntax ........................... 71 3.1.2.3 Local Summary ...................... 72 3.2 Frequency Effects in Morphological Processing and Production ....... 73 3.2.1 Lexical Token Frequency Effects ................... 74 3.2.2 Morpheme Token Frequency Effects: Root and Affix Frequency .. 75 3.2.3 Base-Derivative Relative Token Frequency .............. 77 3.2.4 Type Frequency ............................ 78 3.2.5 Family Size Effects .......................... 80 3.2.6 Phonotactic Probabilities ....................... 81 3.2.7 Summary ............................... 82 3.3 The Morphological Race Model and Productivity ............... 83 3.4 Correlates of Productivity Measures: Hay and Baayen 2002 and 2003 .... 87 3.5 Conclusions .................................. 90 4 Practical Preliminaries: The Languages and Corpora under Study ::::::: 91 4.1 The Languages: Basics of Morphology in Old Indo-European Languages .. 91 4.1.1 Nouns ................................. 93 vi 4.1.2 Verbs ................................. 93 4.1.3 Derivation versus Inflection ..................... 94 4.2 The Corpora .................................. 95 4.2.1 The R̥gveda .............................. 96 4.2.2 The Homeric Epics .......................... 97 4.2.3 Designing Case Studies ........................ 98 4.2.4 Data Collection ............................ 99 4.3 Issues in the Corpus-Based Study of Morphology ............... 100 4.3.1 What Do We Count? ......................... 100 4.3.2 Base : Derivative Relative Frequency ................. 101 4.3.3 The Reliability of Corpus Frequencies ................ 102 II Case Studies 104 5 The Aorist in Ancient Greek ::::::::::::::::::::::::: 105 5.1 Morphological Characteristics and Problematization ............ 105 5.2 Data Collection and Preparation ....................... 107 5.3 Raw Results and Statistics ........................... 110 5.4 Analysis ..................................... 116 5.4.1 Profiles of Formational Types ..................... 116 5.4.1.1 Root Aorists ........................ 118 5.4.1.2 Thematic Aorists ..................... 120 5.4.1.3 Sigmatic Aorists ...................... 122 5.4.2 Minimal Generalization Learning of Present : Aorist Patterns ... 123 5.4.2.1 Data Preparation ..................... 124 5.4.2.2 Results and Evaluation .................. 125 5.4.3 Other Evidence of Productivity .................... 128 5.4.4 Conclusions concerning the Homeric Aorists ............ 128 5.5 The Greek Aorist after Homer: The Aorist in the Koinḗ ............ 131 5.5.1 Data Collection: New Testament ................... 131 5.5.2 Raw Results and Statistics: New Testament ............. 131 5.5.3 Analysis ................................ 132 5.6 Summary and Conclusions .......................... 136 vii 6 The Aorist in the R̥gveda ::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 137 6.1 Morphological Characterization ........................ 137 6.2 Data Collection and Preparation ....................... 139 6.3 Raw Results and Statistics ........................... 141 6.4 Analysis ..................................... 145 6.4.1 Profiles of Formational Types ..................... 147 6.4.1.1 iṣ- and s-Aorists ...................... 147 6.4.1.2 siṣ-Aorists ......................... 148 6.4.1.3 sa-Aorists ......................... 148 6.4.1.4 Reduplicated Aorists ................... 151 6.4.1.5 Thematic Aorists ..................... 152 6.4.1.6 Root Aorists ........................ 152 6.4.2 Correlations of Present Types and Aorist Types ........... 153 6.5 Comparison to Greek Aorists and Implications for the Reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European Aorist Formants .................... 155 6.6 Brief Reflections on Chapters 5 and 6 ..................... 160 7 Productivity Effects in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit Accentuation ::::::: 161 7.1 A Brief Description of Greek and Sanskrit Accentuation ........... 162 7.1.1 Some History and Terminology .................... 162 7.1.2 Basics: Vedic and Greek Lexical and