Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang

1 Ans van Kemenade, Tanja Milicev & R. Harald Baayen
The format gives: first the text reference, then a number of parameter values,
then the source file named after the query files with which YCOE was searched,
then the source text, and, finally, the subperiod of the text as defined in the Helsinki
Corpus.
The results coded in the comma-separated file were then inputted in R (R
Development Core team 2004). We analysed the data with a generalized linear
mixed model (Baayen 2007 & Faraway 2006) with the NP Specificity as binary
dependent variable to model the probability of a specific realization of the high
NP. The text in which an example was attested was included as a random effect
factor in the model. Two fixed-effect predictors emerged as significant. As shown
in Figure 1, the likelihood of a specific realization of the high NP decreased when
the position of the NP was mid rather than high (log odds contrast coefficient
–1.46, p < 0.0002). Figure 1 also visualizes that this likelihood increased for
NPs realizing proper names (log odds contrast coefficient 2.76, p = 0.0186) and
decreased for indefinite NPs (log odds contrast coefficient –4.24, p < 0.0001).
The standard deviation of the text random variable was estimated at 1.055. The
estimated scale was 0.993, indicating that the use of a binomial link function for
this data set is fully justified.
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
probability of specific NP
o
high
position of NP
o
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
probability of specific NP
o
mid definite indefinite proper name
definiteness
Figure 1. Relation between NP-type, NP position and specificity of NP.
Furthermore, we have measured the relevance of a discourse antecedent. A
generalized linear mixed effect model with a binomial link revealed that the likelihood
of specific realization of the high NP decreased when it appeared in the mid
position rather than in the high position (estimated log odds contrast coefficient
−1.18, p < 0.0001) and that it increased when an antecedent was present (estimated
log odds contrast coefficient 1.67, p < 0.0001), see Figure 2. The estimated
o
o