A Simultaneous-Equation Regression Model of Language Complexity Trade-Offs

German Coloma (gcoloma@ucema.edu.ar)

No 597, CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. from Universidad del CEMA

Abstract: In this paper we develop a statistical model of language complexity trade-offs using four typological measures (related to phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon). The data come from the 100-language sample that appears in the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS), and the trade-offs are calculated using different types of correlation coefficients. All those coefficients are statistically insignificant when they are computed using a standard (product-moment) methodology, but they become significant when we use simultaneous-equation regression methods, especially the ones based on seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) and three-stage least squares (3SLS). These results are related to ideas suggested in the theoretical literature, especially in the one about language as a complex adaptive system.

Keywords: complexity trade-off; WALS; correlation; simultaneous-equation regression; complex adaptive system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2016-10
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cem:doctra:597

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