Communicative Efficiency
Language Structure and Use
Published on 13. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
309 pages
978-1-108-74394-5 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Reviews / Votes
'... this study presents an impressive argument through solid research and easy-to-understand analysis. With a deft hand, Levshina leads readers through a well-structured, extremely fitting thesis at a time when people commonly engage in multiple tasks and social-media distractions in a challenging environment. A minimalist 'less is more' approach is central to this volume's effectiveness. ... Recommended.' K. Liu, ChoiceMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
417 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-74394-5 (9781108743945)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
11/2022
Cambridge University Press
€113.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Natalia Levshina is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Neurobiology of Language department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. She is the author of the best-selling book How to Do Linguistics with R (2015).
Content
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.