Abstract
Linguistic complexity is neither easily defined nor measured. The challenge in finding reliable ways to measure linguistic complexity is even more pronounced when the variation of contexts in which complexity is measured is taken into account. This paper therefore aims at finding measures for assessing syntactic and lexical complexity that are sensitive and non-overlapping even in a less frequently studied context: spontaneous speech of L1 attriters and highly proficient L2 English speakers. To evaluate operationalizations of syntactic and lexical complexity, several previously proposed measures are applied to a corpus of spontaneous speech and a principal component analysis is conducted. The results show which of the measures group together as underlying variables of syntactic and lexical complexity and how this can inform future operationalizations of complexity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 173-191 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | International Journal of Applied Linguistics (United Kingdom) |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was financed by the Dutch national research foundation (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek), Grant number 360-70-420.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. International Journal of Applied Linguistics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords
- L1 attrition
- L2 acquisition
- lexical complexity
- syntactic complexity