Cross-linguistic conditions on word length.

Based on a dataset representing close to ¾ of the world's languages we investigate differences among languages and between items on the Swadesh list with regard to mean word length from a linguistic typological point of view. Mapping the world-wide distribution of word length shows convergence at a continent-wide level, a Pacific Rim signature, and a tendency for large word length averages to be a recessive trait. The amount of data, which is unparalleled in previous, related studies, allows us to provide more solid estimates and accounts for the interrelationships between word length, phoneme segment inventory size, and population size than was previously possible. Word length differences between items exhibit robust, universal tendencies, which are discussed in relation to other quantities, including stability, synonymy, and attestation.

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Copyright: © 2023 Wichmann, Holman. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.