Distributional Structure

3 Distributional analysis

1. What are the first steps of distributional analysis (segmentation and similarity)?
   Segment the flow of speech into parts, arbitrarily at first, then group “similar” segments; only similarity groupings have distributional relations. Segmentation may later be revised (including simultaneous components like tone or stress contours) to make distributions more regular.
   • Harris, 1954, Distributional Structure (Word), §3, p. 158
2. Describe Harris’s pair test for similarity.
   One native speaker repeats \(x_1z\), \(x_2z\), \(y_1z\)…; if a second speaker can tell \(x_1z\) from \(y_1z\) but not \(x_1z\) from \(x_2z\), then \(x_1\) and \(x_2\) are free variants (one similarity grouping). It tests discrimination of sound, not meaning.
   • Harris, 1954, Distributional Structure (Word), §3, pp. 158–159
3. What is serial dependence, and what is substitutability?
   Dependence: if in some environment only AB occurs, never A or B alone, AB is set up as one element; beyond that, elements show degrees of dependence (-dom follows nouns; -ish follows nouns and adjectives). Substitutability: A and B form a substitution set when they share (partially) the same environments, so dependencies can be stated between sets.
   • Harris, 1954, Distributional Structure (Word), §3, p. 159
4. What are domains in distributional analysis?
   The stretches within which dependence and substitutability statements hold (word, phrase, clause, sentence). Co-occurrences within a domain can make the domain itself an element whose co-occurrences are regular within a larger domain, like stems and suffixes within words, words within phrases.
   • Harris, 1954, Distributional Structure (Word), §3, pp. 159–160
5. What distributional regularities did Harris find beyond the sentence?
   Between neighbouring sentences: if one says A buys B from C, a neighbour with C sells B to … likely continues with A; active and passive sentences invert their nouns. Across a whole discourse, discourse-specific substitution sets recur throughout, though these regularities are weaker than within a sentence.
   • Harris, 1954, Distributional Structure (Word), §3, p. 160