On the Evolution of Word Order

Idan Rejwan, Avi Caciularu


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.
Anthology ID:
2021.ranlp-srw.22
Volume:
Proceedings of the Student Research Workshop Associated with RANLP 2021
Month:
September
Year:
2021
Address:
Online
Editors:
Souhila Djabri, Dinara Gimadi, Tsvetomila Mihaylova, Ivelina Nikolova-Koleva
Venue:
RANLP
SIG:
Publisher:
INCOMA Ltd.
Note:
Pages:
162–166
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2021.ranlp-srw.22
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Idan Rejwan and Avi Caciularu. 2021. On the Evolution of Word Order. In Proceedings of the Student Research Workshop Associated with RANLP 2021, pages 162–166, Online. INCOMA Ltd..
Cite (Informal):
On the Evolution of Word Order (Rejwan & Caciularu, RANLP 2021)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2021.ranlp-srw.22.pdf