The Study of Frequency Effects in Syntactic Structures

The writers of this paper introduce two kinds of linguistic frequency, type frequency and token frequency. Then, the effects of each kind of frequency on syntactic structures are analyzed. The token frequency effects are divided into two main types: conserving effect and reduction effect. The type frequency is mainly effective in syntactic productivity. The two effects of token frequency on syntax and their interaction with type frequency over time allows us to explain many situations in language that otherwise appear very arbitrary.