LINGUIST List 12.1276

Tue May 8 2001

Qs: Spanish Word List, Ling Parameters/Adaptivity

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Leo Ferres, e-version of Spanish word frequency list
2. Pianesi Fabio, linguistic parameters for adaptivity

Hello;

I'd like to know if there's anybody out there who can send me by email,
knows or has a website with a word frequency count for Spanish. I'm looking
for something like Kucera-Francis (1967) word frequency counts. I know there
are some books on this, but I need an electronic version. Thank you very
much;

Leo


Leo Ferres
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies &
School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies
Carleton University
Email address: lferreschat.carleton.ca

Dear all,

I'm ending this message on behalf of a collegues who doesn't receive the

Linguist List.

Please send your reply to myself or to

Marianna Nardon, nardonitc.it


Thanks

Fabio Pianesi

- ----------------- My name is Marianna Nardon, I`m a psychologist
working at the "Cognitive and Communication Technologies Division" at
IRST in Trento, Italy. My current topic is "linguistic adaptivity"
both in human-human and human-computer interaction, by this meaning
the attempt at producing texts (documents, descriptions, etc.) that
best suites the needs, level of understanding, etc., of end-users, as
well as the dynamics of the interaction. I`m especially interested in
the linguistic differences occurring in exihbit labels, class lessons
or texts designed for children in comparison to those designed for
adults.

Can anyone out there give me hints and infos as to studies concerning
linguistic parameters which have been proven to affect 'adaptation'
(especially in the child vs. adult case)?


Also, there is a tendency to take existing texts for children vs. their
version for adults as the source of information relevant to adaptation.
I haven't been able to find any study, however, proving that (in given
domains) texts written for children (or adults) really suits their
needs (as measured, for examples, along such dimensions as memorability,
ease of learning, etc.). That is, whether the use of existing text as a
source of information for adaptivity is worth pursuing in view of
experimental evidence.
Can anyone help me in this respect too?

Thank you in advance for any help,

Best regards

Marianna