Comparison of Word Length Distributions in Spoken and Written Chinese - Open Access Library Journal

OALibJ > Vol.5 No.6, June 2018

Comparison of Word Length Distributions in Spoken and Written Chinese ()

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DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1104660 490 Downloads 1,498 Views Citations

Author(s)

Heng Chen

Affiliation(s)

Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China.

ABSTRACT

In this study we apply Zipf-Alecseev’s function to word length distributions of Chinese prose and dialogue texts. Since there are two potential measurement units of Chinese word length, we applied Zipf-Alecseev’s function to both of them. The results show that all the word length distributions fit Zipf-Alecseev’s function, no matter the word length is measured in characters or components. The parameters a and b in Zipf-Alecseev’s function y = cx^a^bln(x) show no difference in different text styles (which are prose and dialogue in our case). However, the parameters are different when word length is measured in different units (character and component respectively). This indicates that the Zipf-Alecseev’s function is sensitive to word length measurement units, but not text styles.

KEYWORDS

Word Length, Chinese, Zipf-Alekseev’s Function, Measurement Units, Text Styles

Share and Cite:

Chen, H. (2018) Comparison of Word Length Distributions in Spoken and Written Chinese. Open Access Library Journal, 5, 1-11. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1104660.

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