Neat Theories, Messy Realities: How to Apply Absolute Definitions to Gradient Phenomena, 2014

• Main Authors: Janda, Laura Alexis, Fossland, Jørgen
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Norwegian Social Science Data Services 2015
• Subjects: Language and linguistics; Tromsø; saami
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18712/nsd-nsd2169-v1; http://search.nsd.no/study/NSD2169/?version=1

"Neat Theories, Messy Realities" is a project that explores the structures of languages. Traditional definitions of language phenomena such as allomorphy (a type of relation between the forms of a language and their meanings) are stated in terms of absolute criteria. However, such definitions are inadequate for describing the real complexity found in language data. As a result, our descriptions of languages are often inaccurate and incomplete, hindering both scholars and language learners. "Neat Theories, Messy Realities" examines data from Russian and other languages that have defied analysis. The goal is not to discard traditional definitions, but to determine standards for applying them even when absolute criteria are not met. Statistical methods are key to evaluating the data and establishing such standards. All the data related to this project have been archived in TROLLing (the Tromsø Repository of Language and Linguistics), an international open access archive for linguistic research data. The items that are relevant to this project are: - Why Russian Prefixes Aren't Empty - Replication data for: Russian nu-drop verbs - Replication data for: V-temporal adverbials in Slavic - Russian -n'kat' verbs - Russian -n'ki words - Replication data for: Metafor og metonymi: personkarakteriserende sammensatte substantiv i norsk - Variation in pri- and pod- attenuatives in Russian - Non-Standard Allomorphy in Russian Prefixes: Corpus, Experimental, and Statistical Exploration - Four North Saami Ambipositions - Replication data for: Russian adverbials with the preposition "v" Data are freely available for downloading from: http://opendata.uit.no/dvn/dv/trolling