A Study on Correlation between Chinese Sentence and Constituting Clauses Based on the Menzerath-Altmann Law

Hou, Renkui; Huang, Chu‐Ren; Do, Hue San; Liu, Hongchao

doi:10.1080/09296174.2017.1314411

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This result suggests that robust identification technology of similar and related languages must also take into consideration other dimensions of textual variations such as gender, genre, or register. In fact, in a series of study we did take register into consideration (Hou et al 2017, Hou, Huang andLiu 2019;. In addition to show that fitted power function model between linguistic units and their constituents is an effective tool for classification of similar languages, we also showed that single feature works better with binary classification.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Wang and Qin (2014) considered the lengths of sentence segments to be relevant to language use in Chinese. In fact, these sentences (by Chen et al 2003) and sentence segments (by Chen 1994; Wang and Qin 2014) are roughly equivalent to clauses (Hou et al 2017). With the units of clauses determined, it is necessary to next define operational criteria for measure their lengths in Chinese.…”

Section: Sentence Length As the Linguistic Characteristics To Differementioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the units of clauses determined, it is necessary to next define operational criteria for measure their lengths in Chinese. In quantitative linguistics, it is common to measure the length of a linguistic construct (in this case, the clause) as the number of its direct or indirect constituents (i.e., words, Hou et al 2017). Although word boundaries are not conventionally marked in Chinese texts, they are clearly delineated in tagged Chinese corpora such as Sinica Corpus and LCMC.…”

Section: Sentence Length As the Linguistic Characteristics To Differementioning

confidence: 99%

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Classification of regional and genre varieties of Chinese: A correspondence analysis approach based on comparable balanced corpora

Hou

Huang

2020

Nat. Lang. Eng.

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This paper proposes a robust text classification and correspondence analysis approach to identification of similar languages. In particular, we propose to use the readily available information of clauses and word length distribution to model similar languages. The modeling and classification are based on the hypothesis that languages are self-adaptive complex systems and hence can be classified by dynamic features describing the system, especially in terms of distributional relations of constituents of a system. For similar languages whose grammatical differences are often subtle, classification based on dynamic system features should be more effective. To test this hypothesis, we considered both regional and genre varieties of Mandarin Chinese for classification. The data are extracted from two comparable balanced corpora to minimize possible confounding factors. The two corpora are the Sinica Corpus from Taiwan and the Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese from Mainland China, and the two genres are reportage and review. Our text classification and correspondence analysis results show that the linguistically felicitous two-level constituency model combining power functions between word and clauses effectively classifies the two varieties of Chinese for both genres. In addition, we found that genres do have compounding effect on classification of regional varieties. In particular, reportage in two varieties is more likely to be classified than review, corroborating the complex system view of language variations. That is, language variations and changes typically do not take place evenly across the board for the complete language system. This further enhances our hypothesis that dynamic complex system features, such as the power functions captured by the Menzerath–Altmann law, provide effective models in classifications of similar languages.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Sentence Length As the Linguistic Characteristics To Differementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sentence Length As the Linguistic Characteristics To Differementioning

confidence: 99%

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Classification of regional and genre varieties of Chinese: A correspondence analysis approach based on comparable balanced corpora

Hou

Huang

2020

Nat. Lang. Eng.

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“…In the written Chinese language, characteristics of speech are marked by punctuation at the end of a sentence. Thus, the sentence is defined as the Chinese text separated by periods, exclamation marks, and question marks operationally (Hou et al, 2017(Hou et al, , 2019aChen and Liu, 2022). The sentence length is measured in the number of its immediate constituents, clauses (Hou et al, 2019a;Chen and Liu, 2022).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lastly, a recent series of papers is the first to systematically investigate the correlation models between different levels of linguistic constituency in Chinese, covering the character, the word, the clause, and the sentence levels. For example, Hou et al (2017) applied the MA law to the sentence-clause correlation in different Chinese register texts and showed that the sentence-clause relationship abides by the MA law in written formal registers, but not in daily informal registers; Hou et al (2019b) applied the law to the clause-word level. Hou et al (2019a) systematically compare the fitted models of register classification based on sentence-word/character, sentence-clause, and clause-word/character correlations.…”

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confidence: 99%

Regional varieties and diachronic changes in Chinese political discourse

Hou

Huang

Ahrens

2022

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

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The present paper explores the synchronic variations and diachronic changes in political discourses in Hong Kong (HK) and in Mainland of People’s Republic of China (PRC). The relationship between lengths of linguistic constructs and their immediate constituents (including sentences and clauses, and clauses and words) are fitted using the function y = axb based on the Menzerath–Altmann (MA) law to capture the characteristics of language as self-organizing complex systems. We found that the two fitted parameters a and b, as distinctive characteristics of complex systems, can distinguish two regional variants of political speeches from HK and PRC over different periods in time. We also found that the same parameters can capture language changes between different periods of political speeches from the PRC. More specifically, we found that regional variations and historical changes show different degrees of salience at different constituency levels. In addition, we found compounding effects between historical change and regional variations. That is, the two regional variants of political speeches are closer to each other at the earliest diachronic period as compared with the latter two periods, as represented by the fitted parameters of the relationship between sentence and clause lengths. Our results provide strong support for the hypothesis for the MA Law capturing the characteristics of language as a complex self-organizing system, as the two fitted parameters account for the interaction of diachronic language change and synchronic variation.

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A new hazard event classification model via deep learning and multifractal

Wang

Ren

et al. 2023

Computers in Industry

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A Study on Correlation between Chinese Sentence and Constituting Clauses Based on the Menzerath-Altmann Law

Cited by 21 publications

References 8 publications

Classification of regional and genre varieties of Chinese: A correspondence analysis approach based on comparable balanced corpora

Classification of regional and genre varieties of Chinese: A correspondence analysis approach based on comparable balanced corpora

Regional varieties and diachronic changes in Chinese political discourse

A new hazard event classification model via deep learning and multifractal

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