ABSTRACT
The quantitative description of the vocabulary of a specific language, the frequency of specific devices or the stylistic characteristics of different texts. Lexicostatistical data are gathered by means of data processing. ( also computational linguistics, glottochronology, statistical linguistics)
References
Dyen, I. 1975. Linguistic subgrouping and lexicostatistics. The Hague. Gudschinsky, S.C. 1956. The ABCs of lexicostatistics (glottochronology). Word 12. 175-210. Hymes, D. 1960. Lexicostatistics. Current Anthro-pology 1. 3-44. ——1960. More on lexicostatistics. Current Anthropology 1. 338-45. Lehmann, W.P. 1962. Historical linguistics: an introduction. New York. (2nd edn 1973.) Smith, R.N. 1973. Probabilistic performance models of language. The Hague. Swadesh, M. 1952. Lexicostatistic dating of prehistoric ethnic contacts. Proceedings of the
American Philological Society 96. 452-63. frequency dictionaries
