The DOI matches its Crossref record; 171 of the 171 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency
Open accessAbstract
This book argues that major patterns of variation across languages are structured by general principles of efficiency in language use and communication. Evidence for these comes from languages permitting structural choices from which selections are made in performance, e.g. between competing word orders and between relative clauses with a resumptive pronoun versus a gap. The preferences and patterns of performance within languages are reflected in the fixed conventions and variation patterns across grammars, leading to a ‘‘Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis.’’ The general theory that is laid out in Hawkins’s Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars (OUP) is extended and updated. New areas of grammar and of performance are discussed, new research findings are incorporated that test Hawkins’s earlier predictions, and new advances in the contributing fields of language processing, linguistic theory, historical linguistics, and typology are addressed. This efficiency approach to variation has far-reaching theoretical consequences of relevance for many current issues in the language sciences. These include the notion of ease of processing and how to measure it, the role of processing in language change, the nature of language universals and their explanation, the theory of complexity, the relative strength of competing and cooperating principles, and the proper definition of fundamental grammatical notions such as ‘dependency.’ The book also gives a new typology of VO and OV languages and their correlating properties seen from this perspective, and a new typology of the noun phrase and of argument structure.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“In the case of the syntax of human language, these appear to consist largely of processing pressures that reduce the cost of the operations required for speech and comprehension-an idea that has been developed in considerable detail in work by [9][10][11][12], among others.”
From Natural syntax, artificial intelligence and language acquisition (2023) · cites this paper as [10]
In the citing paper
“Speed in communicating the intended message from speaker to hearer and minimal processing effort in doing so are the two driving forces of efficiency . . .[9] (p.9), [10] (p.48)”
From Natural syntax, artificial intelligence and language acquisition (2023) · cites this paper as [10]
In the citing paper
“Grammars generate sentences whose properties reflect preferences relating to the ease and efficiency of processing.”
From Natural syntax, artificial intelligence and language acquisition (2023) · cites this paper as [10]
In the citing paper
“there is serious consideration of the possibility that the reverse might be true: processing efficiency could shape syntactic principles.”
From Natural syntax, artificial intelligence and language acquisition (2023) · cites this paper as [10]
Citations
Cites
Grice, H. P. (1975) · Speech Acts · doi:10.1163/9789004368811_003 · Cited by 23,221
Parallel Distributed Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition: Foundations
Rumelhart, D. E., McClelland, J. L., & AU (1986) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/5236.001.0001 · Cited by 15,686
The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve?
Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, W. T. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.298.5598.1569 · Cited by 5,189
Levinson, S. C. (1983) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511813313 · Cited by 5,137
Speaking: From Intention to Articulation
Levelt, W. J. M. (1989) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/6393.001.0001 · Cited by 4,804
Thematic Proto-Roles and Argument Selection
Dowty, D. R. (1991) · Language · doi:10.1353/lan.1991.0021 · Cited by 4,586
A capacity theory of comprehension: individual differences in working memory
Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (1992) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.99.1.122 · Cited by 4,153
Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics
Thomason, S. G., & Kaufman, T. S. (1988) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/9780520912793 · Cited by 3,277
World Lexicon of Grammaticalization
Heine, B., & Kuteva, T. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511613463 · Cited by 2,952
Three Factors in Language Design
Chomsky, N. (2005) · Linguistic Inquiry · doi:10.1162/0024389052993655 · Cited by 2,720
Research works printed but not linked: 163
- Abney, S. P. (1987). ‘The English Noun Phrase in its Sentential Aspect.’ Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
- Aikhenvald,, 2003, Classifiers: A Typology of Noun Categorization Devices
- Aldai,, 2003, The Prenominal [-Case] Relativization Strategy of Basque: Conventionalization, Processing and Frame Semantics.
- Anderson,, 1983, The Architecture of Cognition
- Anderson, S. R. (1976). ‘On the Notion of Subject in Ergative Languages,’ in C. N. Li (ed.), Subject and Topic. New York: Academic Press, 1–23.
- Anderson, S. R. and Keenan, E. L. (1985). ‘Deixis,’ in T. Shopen (ed.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description, vol. 3: Grammatical Categories and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 259–308.
- Ariel,, 1990, Accessing Noun-Phrase Antecedents
- Austin,, 1981, A Grammar of Diyari, South Australia
- Berman, R. A. (1984). ‘Cross-linguistic First Language Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition Research,’ in R. W. Andersen (ed.), Second Languages: A Cross-linguistic Perspective. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House, 13–36.
- 241Berwick, R. C. and Chomsky, N. (2011). ‘The Biolinguistic Program: The Current State of its Evolution and Development,’ in A. M. di Sciullo and C. Boeckx (eds), The Biolinguistic Enterprise: New Perspectives on the Evolution and Nature of the Human Language Faculty. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 19–41.
- Bever, T. G. (1970). ‘The Cognitive Basis for Linguistic Structures,’ in J. R. Hayes (ed.), Cognition and the Development of Language. New York: Wiley, 279–362.
- Bhat,, 2004, Pronouns
- Biber,, 1999, Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English
- Biberauer, T., Holmberg, A., and Roberts, I. (2007). ‘Disharmonic Word-Order Systems and the Final-over-Final Constraint (FOFC),’ in A. Bisetto and F. Barbieri (eds), Proceedings of XXXIII Incontro di Grammatica Generativa. Bologna: University of Bologna, 86–105.
- Biberauer, T., Holmberg, A., and Roberts, I. (2008). ‘Structure and Linearization in Disharmonic Word Orders,’ in C. C. Chang and H. J. Haynie (eds), Proceedings of the 26th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Somerville, Mass.: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 96–104.
- Bird,, 1976, An Kan Bamanakan Kalan: Intermediate Bambara
- Blake,, 1987, Australian Aboriginal Grammar
- Blake,, 1990, Relational Grammar
- Bock, K. and Levelt, W. J. M. (1994). ‘Language Production: Grammatical Encoding,’ in M. A. Gernsbacher (ed.), Handbook of Psycholinguistics. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Bornkessel, I. (2002). ‘The Argument Dependency Model: A Neurocognitive Approach to Incremental Interpretation,’ Ph.D. dissertation, University of Potsdam.
- Bowerman, M. (1988). ‘The “No Negative Evidence” Problem: How Do Children Avoid Constructing an Overly General Grammar?’ in J. A. Hawkins (ed.), Explaining Language Universals. Oxford: Blackwell, 73–101.
- Braine, M. D. S. (1971). ‘On Two Types of Models of the Internalization of Grammars,’ in D. I. Slobin (ed.), The Ontogenesis of Grammar. New York: Academic Press, 153–86.
- Bredsdorff,, 1962, Danish: An Elementary Grammar and Reader
- Bresnan, J., Dingare, S., and Manning, C. D. (2001). ‘Soft Constraints Mirror Hard Constraints: Voice and Person in English and Lummi,’ in M. Butt and T. H. King (eds), Proceedings of the LFG 01 Conference. Stanford: CSLI Publications, 13–32.
- Brown,, 1996, Concise Encyclopedia of Syntactic Theories
- Bybee, J. (1988). ‘The Diachronic Dimension in Explanation,’ in J. A. Hawkins (ed.), Explaining Language Universals. Oxford: Blackwell, 350–79.
- Campbell,, 2004, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction
- Choi,, 2007, Length and Order: A Corpus Study of (the) Korean Dative-Accusative Construction,, Discourse and Cognition
- Chomsky,, 1965, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax
- Chomsky,, 1981, Lectures on Government and Binding
- Chomsky,, 1995, The Minimalist Program
- Chomsky, N. (2000). ‘Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework,’ in R. Martin, D. Michaels, and J. Uriagereka (eds), Step by Step: Essays on Minimalist Syntax in Honor of Howard Lasnik. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 89–156.
- Chung, S. (1976). ‘On the Subject of Two Passives in Indonesian,’ in C. N. Li (ed.), Subject and Topic. New York: Academic Press, 57–98.
- Cole, P. (1976). ‘An Apparent Asymmetry in the Formation of Relative Clauses in Modern Hebrew,’ in P. Cole (ed.), Studies in Modern Hebrew Syntax and Semantics. Amsterdam: North Holland, 231–47.
- 243Comrie, B. (1978). ‘Ergativity,’ in W. P. Lehmann (ed.), Syntactic Typology: Studies in the Phenomenology of Language. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Comrie,, 1989, Language Universals and Linguistic Typology
- Craig,, 1977, The Structure of Jacaltec
- Croft,, 1990, Typology and Universals
- Croft,, 2000, Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach
- Croft,, 2003, Typology and Universals
- Culicover,, 1993, Evidence against ECP Accounts of the That-t Effect,, Linguistic Inquiry
- Downing, B. T. (1978). ‘Some Universals of Relative Clause Structure,’ in J. Greenberg (ed.), Universals of Human Language, vol. 4: Syntax. Stanford: University of Stanford, 375–419.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005a). ‘Order of Object and Verb,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 338–41.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005b). ‘Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 346–9.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005c). ‘Definite Articles,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 154–7.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005d). ‘Order of Relative Clause and Noun,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 366–9.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005e). ‘Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Relative Clause and Noun,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 390–3.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005f). ‘Determining Dominant Word Order,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 371.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005g). ‘Order of Genitive and Noun,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 350–3.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005h). ‘Order of Adjective and Noun,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 354–7.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005i). ‘Position of Case Affixes,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 210–13.
- Dryer, M. S. (2005j). ‘Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 378–81.
- Dryer, M. S. (2009). ‘The Branching Direction Theory of Word Order Correlations Revisited,’ in S. Scalise, E. Magni, and A. Bisetto (eds), Universals of Language Today. Berlin: Springer.
- 245Dryer, M. S. with Gensler, O. D. (2005). ‘Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 342–5.
- Dugast,, 1971, Grammaire du Tunen
- Erdmann, P. (1988). ‘On the Principle of “Weight” in English,’ in C. Duncan-Rose and T. Vennemann (eds), On Language, Rhetorica, Phonologica, Syntactica: A Festschrift for Robert P. Stockwell from his Friends and Colleagues. London: Routledge, 325–39.
- Erguvanli,, 1984, The Function of Word Order in Turkish Grammar
- Fodor,, 1978, Parsing Strategies and Constraints on Transformations,, Linguistic Inquiry
- Francis,, 1982, Frequency Analysis of English Usage: Lexicon and Grammar
- Frazier,, 1979, On Comprehending Sentences: Syntactic Parsing Strategies
- Frazier, L. and Rayner, K. (1988). ‘Parameterizing the Language Processing System: Left- vs. Right-Branching Within and Across Languages,’ in J. A. Hawkins (ed.), Explaining Language Universals. Oxford: Blackwell, 247–79.
- Gast,, 2007, From Phylogenetic Diversity to Structural Homogeneity: On Right-branching Constituent Order in Mesoamerica,, Sky Journal of Linguistics
- Gell-Mann, M. (1992). ‘Complexity and Complex Adaptive Systems,’ in J. A. Hawkins and M. Gell-Mann (eds), The Evolution of Human Languages. Redwood City, Calif.: Addison-Wesley, 3–18.
- 1979, On Understanding Grammar
- Greenberg, J. H. (1963). ‘Some Universals of Grammar with Particular Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements,’ in J. H. Greenberg (ed.), Universals of Language. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 73–113.
- Greenberg,, 1966, Language Universals, with Special Reference to Feature Hierarchies
- Greenberg, J. H. (1978). ‘How Does a Language Acquire Gender Markers?’ in J. H. Greenberg, C. A. Ferguson, and E. A. Moravcsik (eds), Universals of Human Language, Vol. 3: Word Structure. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 47–82.
- Grimshaw,, 1990, Argument Structure
- Hall,, 1992, Morphology and Mind
- Haspelmath,, 1999, Sprachwissenschaft
- Haspelmath,, 2002, Morphology
- Haspelmath,, 2005, The World Atlas of Language Structures
- Hawkins,, 1983, Word Order Universals
- Hawkins,, 1986, A Comparative Typology of English and German: Unifying the Contrasts
- Hawkins,, 1988, Explaining Language Universals
- Hawkins,, 1990, A Parsing Theory of Word Order Universals,, Linguistic Inquiry
- Hawkins,, 1994, A Performance Theory of Order and Constituency
- Hawkins,, 2000, The Relative Order of Prepositional Phrases in English: Going Beyond Manner-Place-Time,, Language Variation and Change
- Hawkins,, 2012, Criterial Features in L2 English: Specifying the Reference Levels of the Common European Framework
- Heath,, 1999, A Grammar of Koyraboro (Koroboro) Senni
- Heine,, 1984, Grammaticalisation and Reanalysis in African Languages
- Hodler,, 1954, Grundzüge einer germanischen Artikellehre
- Hoekstra, T. and Kooij, J. G. (1988). ‘The Innateness Hypothesis,’ in J. A. Hawkins (ed.), Explaining Language Universals. Oxford: Blackwell, 31–55.
- Hopper,, 1993, Grammaticalization
- Innes,, 1966, An Introduction to Grebo
- Jackendoff,, 1977, X-bar Syntax: A Study of Phrase Structure
- 249Jaeger, T. F. (2006). ‘Redundancy and Syntactic Reduction in Spontaneous Speech.’ Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
- Kashket, M. B. (1988). ‘Parsing Warlpiri, a Free Word Order Language,’ in S. P. Abney (ed.), The MIT Parsing Volume, 1987–88, Parsing Project Working Papers No. 1. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, Center for Cognitive Science, 104–27.
- Kayne,, 1994, The Antisymmetry of Syntax
- Keenan, E. L. (1975). ‘Variation in Universal Grammar,’ in R. Fasold and R. Shuy (eds), Analyzing Variation in English. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 136–48. Reprinted in Keenan (1987), 46–59.
- Keenan,, 1979, On Surface Form and Logical Form,, Studies in the Linguistic Sciences
- Keenan, E. L. (1985). ‘Relative Clauses’, in T. Shopen (ed.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description, vol. II: Complex Constructions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 141–70.
- Keenan,, 1987, Universal Grammar: 15 Essays
- Keenan, E. L. (1988). ‘On Semantics and the Binding Theory,’ in J. A. Hawkins, Explaining Language Universals. Oxford: Blackwell, 105–44.
- Keenan,, 1977, Noun Phrase Accessibility and Universal Grammar,, Linguistic Inquiry
- Kempen,, 2003, Cognitive Architectures for Human Grammatical Encoding and Decoding.
- Kempson,, 2001, Dynamic Syntax
- Kendall,, 1974, Relative Clause Formation and Topicalization in Yavapai,, IJAL
- Kiaer, J. (2007). ‘Processing and Interfaces in Syntactic Theory: The Case of Korean.’ Ph.D. thesis, King’s College London.
- King,, 1969, Generative Grammar and Historical Linguistics
- Kizach, J. (2010). ‘The Function of Word Order in Russian Compared with Danish and English.’ Ph.D. thesis, Department of English, University of Aarhus.
- Klima, E. (1964). ‘Negation in English,’ in J. Fodor and J. Katz (eds), The Structure of Language. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- König,, 2009, Understanding English-German Contrasts
- Kuno,, 1973, The Structure of the Japanese Language
- Labov,, 1972, Sociolinguistic Patterns
- Lehmann,, 1984, Der Relativsatz
- Lehmann,, 1995, Thoughts on Grammaticalization
- Leisi,, 1975, Der Wortinhalt
- Lichtenberk,, 1983, A Grammar of Manam
- Lieberman,, 1974, On Conditioning the Rule of Subject-Auxiliary Inversion,, NELS
- Lightfoot,, 1991, How to Set Parameters
- Lin, C. C. and Bever, T. G. (2006). ‘Subject Preference in the Processing of Relative Clauses in Chinese.’ Poster presented at the 25th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, Somerville, Mass.
- Lohse,, 2000, Zero versus Explicit Marking in Relative Clauses.
- Los, B. and Dreschler, G. (2012). ‘From a Multifunctional First Constituent to a Multifunctional Subject,’ in T. Nevalainen and E. C. Traugott (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- MacDonald, M. C. (1999). ‘Distributional Information in Language Comprehension, Production and Acquisition: Three Puzzles and a Moral,’ in B. MacWhinney (ed.), The Emergence of Language. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- MacWhinney, B. (1982). ‘Basic Syntactic Processes,’ in S. Kuczaj (ed.), Language Acquisition: Syntax and Semantics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Maddieson, I. (2005). ‘Consonant Inventories,’ in M. Haspelmath et al. (eds), The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 10–13.
- Manber,, 1989, Introduction to Algorithms
- Marblestone, K. L. (2007). ‘Semantic and Syntactic Effects on Double Prepositional Phrase Ordering across the Lifespan.’ Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California.
- Marcus,, 1980, A Theory of Syntactic Recognition for Natural Language
- Mater,, 1971, Deutsche Verben
- Matthews,, 1994, Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar
- Meillet,, 1912, Linguistique Historique et Linguistique Générale
- Miller, G. A. and Chomsky, N. (1963). ‘Finitary Models of Language Users,’ in R. D. Luce, R. Bush, and E. Galanter (eds), Handbook of Mathematical Psychology, vol. 2. New York: Wiley, 419–92.
- Miyamoto,, 2006, Studies: Bulletin of the Japanese Cognitive Science Society
- Mobbs,, 2008, “Functionalism,” the Design of the Language Faculty, and (Disharmonic) Typology.
- Müller-Gotama, F. (1991). ‘A Typology of the Syntax-Semantics Interface.’ Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California.
- Nichols,, 1986, Language
- 253Nichols, J. (1994). ‘Ingush,’ in R. Smeets (ed.), The Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus, vol. 4: North East Caucasian Languages, part 2. Delmar, NY: Caravan Books, 79–146.
- Oirsouw,, 1987, The Syntax of Coordination
- Phillips, C. (1996). ‘Order and Structure.’ Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
- Plank,, 2003, Noun Phrase Structure in the Languages of Europe
- Pollard,, 1994, Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar
- Primus,, 2002, Linguistics
- Prince,, 1993, Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar
- Quirk,, 1985, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language
- Reinhart,, 1982, Pragmatics and Linguistics: An Analysis of Sentence Topics,, Philosophica
- Rizzi,, 1991, Relativized Minimality
- Rohdenburg,, 1974, Sekundäre Subjektivierungen im Englischen und Deutschen
- Ross, J. R. (1967). ‘Constraints on Variables in Syntax,’ Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
- Sadler,, 1988, Welsh Syntax: A Government-Binding Approach
- Sadock, J. and Zwicky, A. (1985). ‘Speech Act Distinctions in Syntax,’ in T. Shopen (ed.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description, vol. 1: Clause Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Saltarelli,, 1988, Basque
- Sapir,, 1921, Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech
- Shannon,, 1948, Technical Journal
- Sonnenschein,, 2005, A Descriptive Grammar of San Bartolomé Zoogocho Zapotec
- Sperber,, 1995, Relevance: Communication and Cognition
- Stallings, L. M. (1998). ‘Evaluating Heaviness: Relative Weight in the Spoken Production of Heavy-NP Shift.’ Ph.D. dissertation, USC.
- Szmrecsanyi,, 2004, On Operationalizing Syntactic Complexity,
- Tallerman,, 1998, Understanding Syntax
- Thomason,, 2001, Language Contact: An Introduction
- Tomasello,, 2003, Constructing a Language
- Tomlin,, 1986, Basic Word Order: Functional Principles
- Traugott,, 1991, Approaches to Grammaticalization
- Trudgill,, 2011, Sociolinguistic Typology
- Tsao,, 1978, A Functional Study of Topic in Chinese
- Ultan, R. (1978). ‘Some General Characteristics of Interrogative Systems,’ in J. H. Greenberg (ed.), Universals of Human Language. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 211–48.
- Vincent, N. B. (1987). ‘Latin,’ in M. B. Harris and N. B. Vincent (eds), The Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 26–78.
- Wasow,, 2002, Postverbal Behavior
- Wivell, R. (1981). ‘Kairiru Grammar.’ MA thesis, University of Auckland.
- 257Wu, F. (2009). ‘Factors Affecting Relative Clause Processing in Mandarin.’ Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
- Yngve,, 1960, A Model and an Hypothesis for Language Structure,, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
- Zipf,, 1949, Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Large-scale evidence of dependency length minimization in 37 languages
Futrell, R., Mahowald, K., & Gibson, E. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1502134112 · Cited by 455
Polinsky, M. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.13 · Cited by 240
Explaining alienability contrasts in adpossessive constructions: Predictability vs. iconicity
Haspelmath, M. (2017) · Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft · doi:10.1515/zfs-2017-0009 · Cited by 237
Haspelmath, M. (2014) · Annual Review of Linguistics · doi:10.1146/annurev-linguist-030514-125204 · Cited by 236
On the Order of Demonstrative, Numeral, Adjective, and Noun
Dryer, M. S. (2018) · Language · doi:10.1353/lan.2018.0054 · Cited by 231
The Oxford Handbook of Ellipsis
van Craenenbroeck, J., & Temmerman, T. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198712398.001.0001 · Cited by 188
Competing Motivations in Grammar and Usage
MacWhinney, B., Malʹčukov, A. L., & Moravcsik, E. A. (2014) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.001.0001 · Cited by 185
Competing motivation models and diachrony: What evidence for what motivations?
Cristofaro, S. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0017 · Cited by 174
The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity
Coon, J., Massam, D., & Travis, L. D. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.001.0001 · Cited by 176
Norcliffe, E., Harris, A. C., & Jaeger, T. F. (2015) · Language Cognition and Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/23273798.2015.1080373 · Cited by 173
“…memory (Gibson, 1998; Grodner & Gibson, 2005; Wanner & Maratsos, 1978) or of retrieving dependents at the point where they must be integrated into the dependency (Gibson, 2000; Gordon, Hendrick, & Johnson, 2004; Lewis, Vasishth, & Van Dyke, 2006, inter alia; see also Hawkins, 1994, 2004, 2014).”
BackgroundInfluentialExplaining grammatical coding asymmetries: Form–frequency correspondences and predictability
Haspelmath, M. (2021) · Journal of Linguistics · doi:10.1017/s0022226720000535 · Cited by 168
Lossy‐Context Surprisal: An Information‐Theoretic Model of Memory Effects in Sentence Processing
Futrell, R., Gibson, E. A. F., & Lévy, R. (2020) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12814 · Cited by 184
On Inherent and Dependent Theories of Ergative Case
Baker, M. C., & Bobalijk, J. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.5 · Cited by 149
Linguistic diversity and language evolution
Hammarström, H. (2016) · Journal of Language Evolution · doi:10.1093/jole/lzw002 · Cited by 140
“Traditionally, explanations of statistical universals are sought in terms of processing machinery preferences (Hawkins 2014) or functional pressures related to communication (Haspelmath 2008).”
BackgroundJiang, J., & Liu, H. (2015) · Language Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2015.04.002 · Cited by 135
“The distinctive research method and the interpretation perspective will open up new possibilities for quantitative text analysis, and “advance the research of cross-linguistic complexity and efficiency” (Hawkins, 2014).”
MethodRole-reference associations and the explanation of argument coding splits
Haspelmath, M. (2020) · Linguistics · doi:10.1515/ling-2020-0252 · Cited by 133
Generalizing beyond the input: The functions of the constructions matter
Perek, F., & Goldberg, A. E. (2015) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/j.jml.2015.04.006 · Cited by 129
“…2012; but see Goldberg 2013), other biases have been argued to emerge from the communicative function of language (Levy & Jaeger 2007; Jaeger 2010; Hawkins 1994, 2004, 2014; Mahowald, Fedorenko, Piantadosi, & Gibson 2013; Piantadosi, Tily, & Gibson 2012), from domain general constraints on…”
BackgroundMultiple factors in second language acquisition: The CASP model
Filipović, L., & Hawkins, J. A. (2013) · Linguistics · doi:10.1515/ling-2013-0005 · Cited by 111
Self-citationLexical Category and Alignment in Austronesian
Kaufman, D. A. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.24 · Cited by 111
Token-based typology and word order entropy: A study based on Universal Dependencies
Levshina, N. (2019) · Linguistic Typology · doi:10.1515/lingty-2019-0025 · Cited by 99
“Their position is determined by the general processing principles (Hawkins 1994, 2014), which were mentioned above.”
InfluentialMultiple approaches to complexity in second language research
Housen, A., Clercq, B. D., Kuiken, F., & Vedder, I. (2018) · Second language Research · doi:10.1177/0267658318809765 · Cited by 98
Merchant, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198712398.013.2 · Cited by 99
Deconstructing Iranian Ergativity
Haig, G. L. J. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.20 · Cited by 94
Dependency Locality as an Explanatory Principle for Word Order
Futrell, R., Lévy, R., & Gibson, E. A. F. (2020) · Language · doi:10.1353/lan.2020.0024 · Cited by 92
“…are best explained in terms of pressures having to do with communicative efficiency (von der Gabelentz 1901, Zipf 1936, 1949, Hockett 1960, Slobin 1973, Givón 1991, Hawkins 1994, 2004, 2014, Chomsky 2005, Christiansen & Chater 2008, Jaeger & Tily 2011, Fedzechkina et al. 2012, Gibson et al. 2019).”
BackgroundThe Ergative in Warlpiri: A Case Study
Laughren, M. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.39 · Cited by 89
Ergativity and Austronesian-Type Voice Systems
Erlewine, M. Y., Levin, T., & van Urk, C. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.16 · Cited by 81
Perek, F., & Goldberg, A. E. (2017) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2017.06.019 · Cited by 82
Three-Way Systems do not Exist
Müller, G., & Thomas, D. E. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.12 · Cited by 81
The Structural Source of Split Ergativity and Ergative Case in Georgian
Nash, L. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.8 · Cited by 80
On system pressure competing with economic motivation
Haspelmath, M. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0012 · Cited by 81
Grammaticalization of Ergative Case Marking
McGregor, W. B. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.19 · Cited by 77
Preposition stranding and ellipsis alternation
Nykiel, J. (2016) · English Language and Linguistics · doi:10.1017/s1360674315000477 · Cited by 76
Hulstijn, J. H. (2018) · Language Learning · doi:10.1111/lang.12317 · Cited by 90
“Hulstijn (2015) argued that it is important to know what the properties are of that part of the magnasyntax of a given language that is acquired by all L1ers (not affected by language-related disorders), regardless of differences in intellectual abilities or attained levels of literacy and education.”
BackgroundVicente, L. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198712398.013.22 · Cited by 75
Filipović, L., & Hawkins, J. A. (2018) · International Journal of Bilingualism · doi:10.1177/1367006918781076 · Cited by 75
Self-citationConflicting vs. convergent vs. interdependent motivations in morphology
Dressler, W. U., Libben, G., & Korecky‐Kröll, K. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0011 · Cited by 73
Sentence grammar vs. thetical grammar: Two competing domains?
Kaltenböck, G., & Heine, B. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0021 · Cited by 73
Historical Migration Patterns Shape Contemporary Cultures of Emotion
Niedenthal, P. M., Rychlowska, M., Zhao, F., & Wood, A. (2019) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691619849591 · Cited by 78
Newmeyer, F. J. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0018 · Cited by 64
Complexity and Difficulty in Second Language Acquisition: A Theoretical and Methodological Overview
Bulté, B., Housen, A., & Pallotti, G. (2024) · Language Learning · doi:10.1111/lang.12669 · Cited by 77
Competition in argument interpretation: Evidence from the neurobiology of language
Bornkessel‐Schlesewsky, I., & Schlesewsky, M. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0007 · Cited by 57
Split Ergativity is not about Ergativity
Coon, J., & Preminger, O. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.10 · Cited by 57
Parameterizing Ergativity: An Inherent Case Approach
Sheehan, M. L. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.3 · Cited by 55
Ease of learning explains semantic universals
Steinert‐Threlkeld, S., & Szymanik, J. (2019) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104076 · Cited by 60
“While the literature offers some explanatory theories of linguistic universals (E. Gibson et al., 2019; Hawkins, 2014), relatively few apply to semantic domains.”
BackgroundBois, J. W. D. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0016 · Cited by 53
Developments into and Out of Ergativity: Indo-Aryan Diachrony
Butt, M., & Deo, A. S. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.22 · Cited by 51
Gradient Acceptability and Linguistic Theory
Francis, E. J. (2021) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780192898944.001.0001 · Cited by 52
Resolving alignment conflicts: A competing motivations approach
Malchukov, A. L. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0002 · Cited by 49
Legate, J. A. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.6 · Cited by 49
Kruger, H., & van Rooy, B. (2016) · Language Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2016.04.003 · Cited by 36
Politeness distinctions in personal pronouns: A case study on competing motivations
Helmbrecht, J. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0019 · Cited by 47
Hindi/Urdu and Related Languages
Butt, M. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.33 · Cited by 48
Kruger, H. (2018) · Across Languages and Cultures · doi:10.1556/084.001 · Cited by 48
Lechner, W. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198712398.013.27 · Cited by 47
The forms and meanings of grammatical markers support efficient communication
Mollica, F., Bacon, G., Zaslavsky, N., Xu, Y., Regier, T., & Kemp, C. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2025993118 · Cited by 42
Intransitivity and the Development of Ergative Alignment
Aldridge, E. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.21 · Cited by 46
The Cambridge Handbook of Working Memory and Language
(2022) · doi:10.1017/9781108955638 · Cited by 43
Αλεξιάδου, Ά. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.15 · Cited by 43
Alignment and orientation in Kartvelian (South Caucasian)
Tuite, K. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.45 · Cited by 41
Tosun, S., & Filipović, L. (2022) · Bilingualism Language and Cognition · doi:10.1017/s1366728922000141 · Cited by 40
Mind the Gap: Resumption in Slavic Relative Clauses
Hladnik, M. (2015) · Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) · Cited by 39
Human Linguisticality and the Building Blocks of Languages
Haspelmath, M. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03056 · Cited by 43
“And in morphosyntax, not only asymmetric coding tendencies, but also many word and clause ordering tendencies can be explained on the basis of general processing preferences that are not specific to linguisticality (Hawkins, 2014).”
BackgroundFilipović, L. (2017) · Languages in Contrast · doi:10.1075/lic.17.2.05fil · Cited by 37
“…X then it also Y, as in if a language has SOV word order at the clause level it almost always has postpositions as well, as in [go to the University] in SVO English vs. the [University-to go] in SOV Japanese (see 9 Greenberg, 1963 and Hawkins, 2014 for the most recent and extensive discussion).”
BackgroundErgative Constellations in the Structure of Speech Acts
Wiltschko, M. E. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.18 · Cited by 36
Language Change, Variation, and Universals
Culicover, P. W. (2021) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198865391.001.0001 · Cited by 36
Hahn, M., Degen, J., & Futrell, R. (2021) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/rev0000269 · Cited by 46
Ergativity in Nakh–Daghestanian
Forker, D. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.35 · Cited by 35
Modeling Structure‐Building in the Brain With CCG Parsing and Large Language Models
Stanojević, M., Brennan, J., Dunagan, D. G., Steedman, M. J., & Hale, J. (2023) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.13312 · Cited by 39
NP Recursion Over Time: Evidence from Indo-European
Widmer, M., Auderset, S., Nichols, J., Widmer, P., & Bickel, B. (2017) · Language · doi:10.1353/lan.2017.0058 · Cited by 35
Efficiency in human languages: Corpus evidence for universal principles
Levshina, N., & Moran, S. (2021) · Linguistics Vanguard · doi:10.1515/lingvan-2020-0081 · Cited by 35
Khan, G. A. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.36 · Cited by 34
Johnson, K. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198712398.013.24 · Cited by 34
THE DATIVE ALTERNATION IN GERMAN-ENGLISH INTERLANGUAGE
Jäschke, K., & Plag, I. (2015) · Studies in Second Language Acquisition · doi:10.1017/s0272263115000261 · Cited by 34
“For example, an ordering of shorter before longer constituents has advantages for short-term memory (e.g., J. A. Hawkins, 1994 , 2014 ).”
BackgroundInformation-theoretic locality properties of natural language
Futrell, R. (2019) · doi:10.18653/v1/w19-7902 · Cited by 34
“…word order properties of nat-ural language: Greenberg’s harmonic word order universals (Greenberg, 1963; Dryer, 1992; Hawkins, 1994; Hawkins, 2004; Hawkins, 2014) and exceptions to them (Temperley, 2007); the rarity of crossing dependencies (Ferrer-i-Cancho, 2006; Ferrer-i-Cancho and…”
BackgroundWord Order Typology Interacts With Linguistic Complexity: A Cross‐Linguistic Corpus Study
Yadav, H., Vaidya, A., Shukla, V., & Husain, S. (2020) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12822 · Cited by 34
Investigating locality effects and surprisal in written English syntactic choice phenomena
Rajkumar, R. P., van Schijndel, M., White, M., & Schuler, W. (2016) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2016.06.008 · Cited by 33
“However, a lot of the preferences visible in production data, such as mirror-image weight effects across different (VO and OV) languages, are not actually predicted by current production models (Hawkins 2014).”
InfluentialCategory Clustering: A Probabilistic Bias in the Morphology of Verbal Agreement Marking
Mansfield, J., Stoll, S., & Bickel, B. (2020) · Language · doi:10.1353/lan.2020.0021 · Cited by 33
Ergative Case in Burushaski: A Dependent Case Analysis
Baker, M. C. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.31 · Cited by 32
Three conlang projects at three educational levels
Adger, D., & van Urk, C. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198829874.003.0005 · Cited by 28
Evidential meanings in native and learner Japanese and English
Filipović, L., Brown, M., & Engelhardt, P. E. (2023) · Pragmatics and Society · doi:10.1075/ps.20089.fil · Cited by 31
Neural signatures of syntactic variation in speech planning
Sauppe, S., Choudhary, K. K., Giroud, N., Blasí, D. E., Norcliffe, E., Bhattamishra, S., Gulati, M., Egurtzegi, A., Bornkessel‐Schlesewsky, I., Meyer, M. E., et al. (2021) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001038 · Cited by 31
“This view is consistent with proposals that processing differences related to working memory engagement are key constraints of language evolution [20,21,97,98], to the extent that these differences stem from comprehension.”
ResultThe Radical Unacceptability Hypothesis: Accounting for Unacceptability without Universal Constraints
Culicover, P. W., Varaschin, G. F., & Winkler, S. (2022) · Languages · doi:10.3390/languages7020096 · Cited by 30
The role of the language production system in shaping grammars
McDaniel, D., McKee, C., Cowart, W., & Garrett, M. F. (2015) · Language · doi:10.1353/lan.2015.0021 · Cited by 30
Aiming at shorter dependencies: the role of agreement morphology
García, I. R., Santesteban, M., Fukumura, K., & Laka, I. (2015) · Language Cognition and Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/23273798.2014.994009 · Cited by 30
“…O and V are assumed to be symmetric: O is dependent on V because it receives its thematic role from V, and V is dependent on O for semantic and syntactic disambiguation (i.e., John ran vs. ran the race vs. ran the water vs. ran the advertisement, from Keenan, 1979, as cited in Hawkins, 2014).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialRevise and resubmit: How real-time parsing limitations influence grammar acquisition
Pozzan, L., & Trueswell, J. C. (2015) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2015.03.004 · Cited by 30
“Such a typological account is largely consistent with the proposals of Hawkins (e.g., Hawkins, 2004, 2012, 2014), who suggests that processing efficiency plays an important role in shaping grammars.”
ResultAccusative and Ergative in Hindi
Mahajan, A. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.4 · Cited by 29
Ergativeneednot Split: An Exploration into theTotalErgHypothesis
Laka, I. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.7 · Cited by 29
A primer on constructed languages
Sanders, N. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198829874.003.0002 · Cited by 30
Typology of coding patterns and frequency effects of antipassives
Seržant, I. A., Janic, K. M., Dermaku, D., & Dror, O. B. (2020) · Studies in Language · doi:10.1075/sl.20049.ser · Cited by 29
Apparently competing motivations in morphosyntactic variation
Mondorf, B. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0013 · Cited by 29
Human Information Processing Shapes Language Change
Fedzechkina, M., Chu, B., & Jaeger, T. F. (2017) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797617728726 · Cited by 29
“Later researchers, drawing on cross-linguistic correlational data, have proposed alternative explanations of these universals in terms of DLm—and thus, as widely assumed, in terms of human information processing (Hawkins, 2014).”
BackgroundInfluentialWhen relative clause extraposition is the right choice, it’s easier
Francis, E. J., & Michaelis, L. A. (2016) · Language and Cognition · doi:10.1017/langcog.2016.21 · Cited by 28
“2 .3. on the relat ion be tween str uctural choices, pr oduct ion, and c omprehens ion Hawkins ( 2004 , 2014 ) proposes that weight eff ects as shown in corpora are closely related to sentence processing in production and comprehension.”
BackgroundCrosslinguistic Corpus Studies in Linguistic Typology
Schnell, S., & Schiborr, N. N. (2022) · Annual Review of Linguistics · doi:10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-104629 · Cited by 28
Nonsyntactic Explanations of Island Constraints
Newmeyer, F. J. (2015) · Annual Review of Linguistics · doi:10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011415-040707 · Cited by 27
Alternations in contact and non-contact varieties
Kruger, H., & Sutter, G. D. (2018) · Translation Cognition & Behavior · doi:10.1075/tcb.00011.kru · Cited by 27
Orconstructions: Monosemy vs. polysemy
Ariel, M. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198709848.003.0020 · Cited by 27
The interdisciplinarity of conlangs
Sanders, N., & Schreyer, C. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198829874.003.0011 · Cited by 26
Filipović, L. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108602235 · Cited by 19
Johns, A., & Kučerová, I. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.17 · Cited by 25
Using language invention to teach typology and cross-linguistic universals
Pearson, M. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198829874.003.0007 · Cited by 25
Metadata
- Authors
- Hawkins, J. A.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hawkins, John A.
- Publisher
- Oxford University PressOxford
- Published
- 2014-02-27
- OpenAlex
- W1495315120
- Cited by
- 405
- References
- 171
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 58 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 31
- FWCI
- 22.66
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Historical Linguistics and Language Studies
- Keywords
- cross-linguistic variation, language efficiency, word order variation, relative clauses, resumptive pronouns, language processing, language change, language universals, grammatical complexity, dependency, argument structure, linguistic typology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review