Still no evidence for an effect of the proportion of non-native speakers on language complexity – A response to Kauhanen, Einhaus & Walkden (2023)
- In a recent paper published in the Journal of Language Evolution, Kauhanen, Einhaus & Walkden (KEW) challenge the results presented in one of my papers (Koplenig, Royal Society Open Science, 6, 181274 (2019)), in which I tried to show through a series of statistical analyses that large numbers of L2 (second language) speakers do not seem to affect the (grammatical or statistical) complexity of a language. To this end, I focus on the way in which the Ethnologue assesses language status: a language is characterised as vehicular if, in addition to being used by L1 (first language) speakers, it should also have a significant number of L2 users. KEW criticise both the use of vehicularity as a (binary) indicator of whether a language has a significant number of L2 users and the idea of imputing a zero proportion of L2 speakers to non-vehicular languages whenever a direct estimate of that proportion is unavailable. While I recognise the importance of post-publication commentary on published research, I show in this rejoinder that both points of criticism are explicitly mentioned and analysed in my paper. In addition, I also comment on other points raised by KEW and demonstrate that both alternative analyses offered by KEW do not stand up to closer scrutiny.
Author: | Alexander KoplenigORCiDGND |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-119069 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2305.00217 |
ISSN: | 2331-8422 |
Parent Title (English): | ArXiv |
Publisher: | Cornell University |
Place of publication: | Ithaca, NY |
Document Type: | Preprint |
Language: | English |
Year of first Publication: | 2023 |
Date of Publication (online): | 2023/06/02 |
Publishing Institution: | Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache (IDS) |
Publicationstate: | Veröffentlichungsversion |
Tag: | grammatical complexity; language complexity; language status; statistical complexity; vehicular language |
GND Keyword: | Computerlinguistik; Non-native speaker; Sprachentwicklung; Statistische Analyse |
Page Number: | 23 |
DDC classes: | 400 Sprache / 400 Sprache, Linguistik |
Open Access?: | ja |
Leibniz-Classification: | Sprache, Linguistik |
Linguistics-Classification: | Computerlinguistik |
Program areas: | L3: Lexik empirisch und digital |
Licence (German): | Urheberrechtlich geschützt |