Corpora in the Ukrainian Language

Title: Corpora in the Ukrainian Language

Research Question: How can rank-frequency analysis be used to estimate the vocabulary size in Ukrainian corpora?

Methodology: The researchers used rank-frequency analysis, a technique that examines the relationship between the frequency of a word's occurrence and its rank within a text. They analyzed five sub-corpora of Ukrainian language, each representing a different functional style of speech. They processed the text data, removing duplicate words and lemmatizing the words to their base form. They then calculated the rank and frequency of each word and analyzed the resulting data.

Results: The researchers found that the rank-frequency distribution of words in the Ukrainian corpora deviated from a linear relationship, as observed in other languages. They also developed a method to estimate the total vocabulary size using the extrapolation of high-rank words.

Implications: The results of this study provide valuable insights into the structure of the Ukrainian language and can be used to improve the efficiency of dictionary compilation, text compression, and language learning. The study also contributes to the ongoing discussion about the applicability of Zipf's law to natural languages.

Link to Article: https://arxiv.org/abs/0311033v1 Authors: arXiv ID: 0311033v1