14.4Empirical results
14.4.6Semantic analysis
Table 3.Type-Token-Ratio in the sitting objects domain
| German | English | Greek | Turkish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTR nouns | 0.127 | 0.109 | 0.102 | 0.158 |
Table 4.Mean number of nouns per picture of sitting objects
| Language | Mean number of nouns per stimulus | Range | SD |
|---|---|---|---|
| German | 3.95 | 1–9 | 2.155 |
| English | 3.95 | 2–7 | 1.465 |
| Greek | 3.95 | 1–9 | 2.333 |
| Turkish | 4.20 | 2–8 | 1.630 |
Table 5.German nouns for sitting objects and their token frequency
(dark grey: Compounds, italics:
Superordinate terms)
| Stuhl | 48 | Sessel | 64 | Hocker | 50 | Sofa | 44 | Bank | 14 | Liege | 2 | Sitzgelegenheit | 1 |
| Schaukelstuhl | 20 | Korbsessel | 5 | Barhocker | 23 | Ecksofa | 1 | Parkbank | 3 | Sonnenliege | 1 | ||
| Gartenstuhl | 15 | Gartensessel | 1 | Klapphocker | 3 | Gartenbank | 1 | Strandliege | 1 | ||||
| Bürostuhl | 11 | Holzsessel | 1 | Holzbank | 1 | Kindersitz | 2 | ||||||
| Liegestuhl | 10 | Klappsessel | 1 | Sitzbank | 1 | Hockersitz | 1 | ||||||
| Plastikstuhl | 10 | Ohrensessel | 1 | ||||||||||
| Kinderstuhl | 9 | Wohnzimmersessel | 1 | Sitzkorb | 1 | ||||||||
| Babystuhl | 6 | ||||||||||||
| Klappstuhl | 6 | Thron | 12 | ||||||||||
| Schreibtischstuhl | 5 | Récamiere | 2 | ||||||||||
| Hochstuhl | 2 | Chaiselongue | 1 | ||||||||||
| Königsstuhl | 2 | Divan | 1 | ||||||||||
| Baststuhl | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Campingstuhl | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Holzstuhl | 1 | Couch | 6 | ||||||||||
| Korbstuhl | 1 | Sitzecke | 1 | ||||||||||
| Küchenstuhl | 1 | Sofaecke | 1 | ||||||||||
| Sonnenstuhl | 1 | Couchgarnitur | 1 | ||||||||||
| Wohnzimmerstuhl | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 103 | 10 | 26 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
Table 6.English nouns for sitting objects and their token frequency
(dark grey: Compounds, italics:
Superordinate terms)
| chair | 106 | stool | 46 | sofa | 34 | couch | 5 | bench | 12 | seat | 1 | ||
| armchair | 29 | bar stool | 17 | corner sofa | 2 | sedan couch | 1 | park bench | 6 | baby’s seat | 1 | ||
| rocking chair | 19 | high stool | 3 | garden bench | 2 | ||||||||
| deck chair | 16 | folding stool | 2 | throne | 10 | ||||||||
| highchair | 12 | kitchen stool | 2 | chaise longue | 9 | ||||||||
| garden chair | 8 | camp stool | 1 | settee | 7 | ||||||||
| plastic chair | 8 | fold-up stool | 1 | lounger | 2 | ||||||||
| office chair | 5 | divan | 1 | ||||||||||
| baby chair | 4 | ||||||||||||
| swivel chair | 3 | ||||||||||||
| baby highchair | 2 | ||||||||||||
| computer chair | 2 | ||||||||||||
| desk chair | 2 | ||||||||||||
| dining chair | 2 | ||||||||||||
| easy chair | 2 | ||||||||||||
| folding chair | 2 | ||||||||||||
| wicker chair | 2 | ||||||||||||
| basket chair | 1 | ||||||||||||
| beach chair | 1 | ||||||||||||
| dining room chair | 1 | ||||||||||||
| lounge chair | 1 | ||||||||||||
| papasan chair | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 123 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
Table 7.Greek nouns for sitting objects and their token frequency
(dark grey: Compounds, light grey: Derivations, italics:
Superordinate terms)
| karékla | 116 | poliθróna | 74 | skabó | 56 | kanapés | 54 | pagáci | 20 | épiplo | 1 | ||
| kunistí karékla | 5 | aftokratoricí poliθróna | 1 | skabó eksoçís | 1 | kanapés-kreváti | 2 | káθizma | 5 | ||||
| plasticí karékla | 5 | vasilikí poliθróna | 1 | skabuðáci | 1 | kanapeðáci | 1 | θrónos | 5 | káθizma morú | 1 | ||
| karékla γrafíu | 3 | kunistí poliθróna | 1 | kanapeðáci cípu | 1 | anáklidro | 4 | ||||||
| karekláci | 3 | poliθróna eklisías | 1 | skamní | 5 | kanapés monoθésios | 1 | sezlóng | 3 | salóni | 2 | ||
| karékla scinoθéti | 2 | poliθronítsa | 1 | ksaplóstra | 3 | kreváti | 1 | ||||||
| karekláci morú | 2 | ||||||||||||
| karékla θalásis | 1 | ||||||||||||
| karékla bebé | 1 | ||||||||||||
| karékla morú | 1 | ||||||||||||
| karékla paralías | 1 | ||||||||||||
| karékla tu papú | 1 | ||||||||||||
| karekláci ja morá | 1 | ||||||||||||
| ksílini karékla | 1 | ||||||||||||
| psáθini karékla | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 28 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
Table 8.Turkish nouns for sitting objects and their token frequency
(dark grey: Compounds, italics:
Superordinate terms)
| sandalye | 76 | koltuk | 72 | tabure | 22 | kanepe | 11 | bank | 9 | taht | 4 | yer | 3 |
| plastik sandalye | 4 | ahşap koltuk | 1 | bar taburesi | 3 | kral tahtı | 1 | oturacak yer | 1 | ||||
| sallanan sandalye | 4 | bahçe koltuğu | 1 | aç kapat tabure | 1 | mobiya | 1 | ||||||
| bar sandalyesi | 3 | bar koltuğu | 1 | bilgisayar taburesi | 1 | oturak | 23 | ||||||
| dönen sandalye | 3 | büro koltuğu | 1 | bebek oturağı | 1 | ||||||||
| katlanır sandalye | 2 | hassırlı koltuk | 1 | kuaför oturağı | 1 | ||||||||
| bebek sandalyesi | 1 | L koltuk | 1 | ||||||||||
| bebek yeme sandalyesi | 1 | sallanır koltuk | 1 | şezlong | 3 | ||||||||
| katlanan sandalye | 1 | sallanmalı koltuk | 1 | yatak | 3 | ||||||||
| kayaklı sandalye | 1 | taht koltuğu | 1 | sıra | 1 | ||||||||
| yemek sandalyesi | 1 | terapist koltuğu | 1 | köşe takımı | 1 | ||||||||
| U koltuk | 1 | oturma takımı | 1 | ||||||||||
| 21 | 11 | 5 | 1 | oturma grubu | 1 |
14.4.7Summary
The different analyses are summarized in Table 9.
Table 9.Measures of granularity in the sitting objects
domain
| Domain | Measure | Specificity > generality heterogeneous > homogeneous narrow > broad meaning |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| sitting objects | Type frequency | German > English|Turkish > Greek | n.s. |
| Token frequency | – | not interpretable | |
| TTR | Turkish > German > English > Greek | ||
| Mean number of nouns per stimulus | Turkish > German|English|Greek | n.s. | |
| Simpson’s D | German > English > Turkish > Greek | ||
| MDS | German > English > Greek > Turkish | ||
| Semantic analysis | German|English > Greek|Turkish |
Type frequency, Simpson’s D, and the MDS analysis show
the familiar results. The satellite-framed languages are more
fine-grained than the verb-framed languages. However, this difference is
not so prominent (not statistically significant) in this domain compared
to other semantic domains. The TTR and the mean number of nouns per
stimulus present Turkish as the language that is most specific. However,
as was laid out in Section 14.4.2, the high type frequency in Turkish is
related to the use of various superordinate terms (‘seat’, ‘place’,
‘furniture’) and different circumscriptions in an attempt to name the
objects, especially those that are not category prototypes. Thus, the
proliferation of terms in Turkish is not a sign of specificity, but of
generality and indeterminacy. This is revealed by the semantic analysis
which is necessary alongside the formal measures of granularity.