The placement of the head that maximizes predictability. An information theoretic approach

TL;DR

This paper extends a mathematical theory of word order by incorporating information-theoretic principles, balancing dependency length minimization with predictability maximization to explain language structure and evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive theoretical framework combining dependency length and predictability principles to analyze word order choices.

Findings

Maximizing predictability favors placing the head last.

The conflict between dependency length and predictability influences word order diversity.

The framework explains the evolution of subject-object-verb orderings.

Abstract

The minimization of the length of syntactic dependencies is a well-established principle of word order and the basis of a mathematical theory of word order. Here we complete that theory from the perspective of information theory, adding a competing word order principle: the maximization of predictability of a target element. These two principles are in conflict: to maximize the predictability of the head, the head should appear last, which maximizes the costs with respect to dependency length minimization. The implications of such a broad theoretical framework to understand the optimality, diversity and evolution of the six possible orderings of subject, object and verb are reviewed.