| Lemma | frequency and linguistic complexity |
|---|---|
| Categoria grammaticale | N |
| Lingua | inglese |
| Sigla | Martinet (1962) |
| Titolo | A Functional View of Language |
| Sinonimi | |
| Rinvii | |
| Traduzioni | |
| Citazioni | But the unmistakable existence of any inverse relationship between frequency and linguistic complexity is a most precious discovery. This applies to all linguistic elements in so far as they convey information and to distinctive non-significant elements as well as to meaningful units, and it is perhaps advisable to illustrate their relationship first by reference to some phonological phenomena: the advantages of phonological illustration lies in the fact that everything is so much simpler there, with a definite number of phonemes per language and no necessity to reckon with meaning. The existence of an inverse relationship between frequency and linguistic complexity is abundantly illustrated on the plane of grammar. |