Communicative Efficiency
Language Structure and Use

Illustrated with rich examples, this book shows how language users can save effort by choosing efficient structures and word order.

Natalia Levshina (Author)

9781108840798, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 November 2022

300 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.2 cm, 0.6 kg

All living beings try to save effort, and humans are no exception. This groundbreaking book shows how we save time and energy during communication by unconsciously making efficient choices in grammar, lexicon and phonology. It presents a new theory of 'communicative efficiency', the idea that language is designed to be as efficient as possible, as a system of communication. The new framework accounts for the diverse manifestations of communicative efficiency across a typologically broad range of languages, using various corpus-based and statistical approaches to explain speakers' bias towards efficiency. The author's unique interdisciplinary expertise allows her to provide rich evidence from a broad range of language sciences. She integrates diverse insights from over a hundred years of research into this comprehensible new theory, which she presents step-by-step in clear and accessible language. It is essential reading for language scientists, cognitive scientists and anyone interested in language use and communication.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Part I. Different Types of Efficiency in Language: 1. Communicative efficiency: main concepts
2. Efficiency and formal length
3. Efficiency and the order of meaningful elements
4. Other ways of saving effort
Part II. Efficiency and Language Evolution: 5. Emergence of efficient language patterns
6. From trade-offs to causal networks
Part III. Case Studies: 7. Efficient form-meaning mapping in causative constructions
8. Differential case marking and efficiency
9. Efficient use of function words in English alternations
10. Conclusions and perspectives Appendices
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]