ABSTRACT

The present study focuses on the word length distribution (WLD) of Zhuang language. The results show that the WLDs of all texts investigated can be described by the Positive Cohen-Poisson model when the word length is measured by the syllable numbers. However, when the word length is measured by the letter numbers, they do not follow any model from the Poisson or Binomial distribution families widely observed in other languages. However, the WLDs of all the Zhuang texts investigated follow the Zipf-Alekseev function either in terms of syllable or letter numbers. Moreover, the research on the WLDs of different Zhuang genres indicates that WLD may not be a sensitive index in distinguishing different Zhuang genres but an effective one in distinguishing different Zhuang styles (spoken or written). Then, the study of the relationship between the parameters a and b in the Zipf-Alekseev function shows that the self-organizing regularity observed in other languages also exists in Zhuang. Finally, the study of the word length-frequency relationship of Zhuang indicates that Zhuang word length is influenced by its frequency, which can be explained by Zipf’s ‘Principle of Least Effort’ and thus follow the law of lexical synergetic subsystem in synergetic linguistics.

摘要

本研究侧重于壮语的词长分布（WLD）。结果表明，当以音节数衡量词长时，所有被调查文本的WLD都可以用Positive Cohen-Poisson模型来描述。然而，当用字母数字来衡量词长时，它们不遵循在其他语言中广泛观察到的泊松或二项式分布族的任何模型。然而，所有被调查的壮语文本的 WLD 在音节或字母数字方面都遵循 Zipf-Alekseev 函数。此外，对不同壮体文体字词的研究表明，文字体字可能不是区分不同壮体文体的敏感指标，而是区分不同壮体文体（口语或书面体）的有效指标。然后，Zipf-Alekseev 函数中的a和b表明在其他语言中观察到的自组织规律在壮语中也存在。最后，对壮语词长频率关系的研究表明，壮语词长受其频率影响，这可以用齐普夫的“最少努力原则”来解释，从而遵循协同语言学中词汇协同子系统的规律。