Optimization of parameters in the Menzerath-Altmann law. (English) Zbl 1275.91115

Andres, Jan; Kubáček, Lubomír; Machalová, Jitka; Tučková, Michaela

Acta Univ. Palacki. Olomuc., Fac. Rerum Nat., Math. 51, No. 1, 5-27 (2012).

Summary: Four formulas of the Menzerath-Altmann law are tested from the point of view of their applicability and suitability. The accuracy of related approximations of measured data is examined by the least square method at first. Then the accuracy of the calculated parameters in the formulas under consideration is compared statistically. The influence of the neglecting parameter \(c\) is investigated as well. Finally, the obtained results are discussed by means of an illustrative example from quantitative linguistics.

MSC:

91F20	Linguistics
62P25	Applications of statistics to social sciences
62J05	Linear regression; mixed models

Keywords:

Menzerath-Altmann’s law; accuracy of data approximations; accuracy of parameter estimates; mean square error; least square method; optimization; linguistics

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