On the Evolution of Word Order

Idan Rejwan; Avi Caciularu

doi:10.26615/issn.2603-2821.2021_022

On the Evolution of Word Order

Idan Rejwan, Avi Caciularu

Department of Computer Science

Tel Aviv University

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

Most natural languages have a predominant or fixed word order. For example in English the word order is usually Subject-Verb-Object. This work attempts to explain this phenomenon as well as other typological findings regarding word order from a functional perspective. In particular, we examine whether fixed word order provides a functional advantage, explaining why these languages are prevalent. To this end, we consider an evolutionary model of language and demonstrate, both theoretically and using genetic algorithms, that a language with a fixed word order is optimal. We also show that adding information to the sentence, such as case markers and noun-verb distinction, reduces the need for fixed word order, in accordance with the typological findings.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 1stWorkshop on Multimodal Machine Translation for Low Resource Languages, MMTLRL 2021 in conjunction with International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021
Editors	Reinhard Rapp, Thoudam Doren Singh, Cristina Espana i Bonet, Reinhard Rapp, Sivaji Bandyopadhyay, Serge Sharoff, Josef Van Genabith, Pierre Zweigenbaum
Publisher	Incoma Ltd
Pages	162-166
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	9789544520731, 9789544520762
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.26615/issn.2603-2821.2021_022
State	Published - 2021
Event	2021 Student Research Workshop, SRW 2021 associated with the International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021 - Virtual, Online Duration: 1 Sep 2021 → 3 Sep 2021

Publication series

Name	International Conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP
Volume	2021-September
ISSN (Print)	1313-8502

Conference

Conference	2021 Student Research Workshop, SRW 2021 associated with the International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021
City	Virtual, Online
Period	1/09/21 → 3/09/21

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Incoma Ltd. All rights reserved.

Access to Document

10.26615/issn.2603-2821.2021_022

Cite this

Rejwan, I., & Caciularu, A. (2021). On the Evolution of Word Order. In R. Rapp, T. D. Singh, C. Espana i Bonet, R. Rapp, S. Bandyopadhyay, S. Sharoff, J. Van Genabith, & P. Zweigenbaum (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1stWorkshop on Multimodal Machine Translation for Low Resource Languages, MMTLRL 2021 in conjunction with International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021 (pp. 162-166). (International Conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP; Vol. 2021-September). Incoma Ltd. https://doi.org/10.26615/issn.2603-2821.2021_022

Rejwan, Idan ; Caciularu, Avi. / On the Evolution of Word Order. Proceedings of the 1stWorkshop on Multimodal Machine Translation for Low Resource Languages, MMTLRL 2021 in conjunction with International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021. editor / Reinhard Rapp ; Thoudam Doren Singh ; Cristina Espana i Bonet ; Reinhard Rapp ; Sivaji Bandyopadhyay ; Serge Sharoff ; Josef Van Genabith ; Pierre Zweigenbaum. Incoma Ltd, 2021. pp. 162-166 (International Conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP).

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abstract = "Most natural languages have a predominant or fixed word order. For example in English the word order is usually Subject-Verb-Object. This work attempts to explain this phenomenon as well as other typological findings regarding word order from a functional perspective. In particular, we examine whether fixed word order provides a functional advantage, explaining why these languages are prevalent. To this end, we consider an evolutionary model of language and demonstrate, both theoretically and using genetic algorithms, that a language with a fixed word order is optimal. We also show that adding information to the sentence, such as case markers and noun-verb distinction, reduces the need for fixed word order, in accordance with the typological findings.",

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Rejwan, I & Caciularu, A 2021, On the Evolution of Word Order. in R Rapp, TD Singh, C Espana i Bonet, R Rapp, S Bandyopadhyay, S Sharoff, J Van Genabith & P Zweigenbaum (eds), Proceedings of the 1stWorkshop on Multimodal Machine Translation for Low Resource Languages, MMTLRL 2021 in conjunction with International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021. International Conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP, vol. 2021-September, Incoma Ltd, pp. 162-166, 2021 Student Research Workshop, SRW 2021 associated with the International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021, Virtual, Online, 1/09/21. https://doi.org/10.26615/issn.2603-2821.2021_022

On the Evolution of Word Order. / Rejwan, Idan; Caciularu, Avi.
Proceedings of the 1stWorkshop on Multimodal Machine Translation for Low Resource Languages, MMTLRL 2021 in conjunction with International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021. ed. / Reinhard Rapp; Thoudam Doren Singh; Cristina Espana i Bonet; Reinhard Rapp; Sivaji Bandyopadhyay; Serge Sharoff; Josef Van Genabith; Pierre Zweigenbaum. Incoma Ltd, 2021. p. 162-166 (International Conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP; Vol. 2021-September).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Rejwan I, Caciularu A. On the Evolution of Word Order. In Rapp R, Singh TD, Espana i Bonet C, Rapp R, Bandyopadhyay S, Sharoff S, Van Genabith J, Zweigenbaum P, editors, Proceedings of the 1stWorkshop on Multimodal Machine Translation for Low Resource Languages, MMTLRL 2021 in conjunction with International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP 2021. Incoma Ltd. 2021. p. 162-166. (International Conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, RANLP). doi: 10.26615/issn.2603-2821.2021_022

On the Evolution of Word Order

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