Received wisdom in linguistic typology holds that if the structure of a language becomes more complex in one dimension, it will simplify in another, building on the assumption that all languages are equally complex (Joseph and Newmeyer, 2012). We study this claim on a micro-level, using a tightly-controlled sample of Dutch dialects (across 366 collection sites) and Min dialects (across 60 sites), which enables a more fair comparison across varieties. Even at the dialect level, we find empirical evidence for a tradeoff between word length and a computational measure of phonotactic complexity from a LSTM-based phone-level language model-a result previously documented only at the language level. A generalized additive model (GAM) shows that dialects with low phonotactic complexity concentrate around the capital regions, which we hypothesize to correspond to prior hypotheses that language varieties of greater or more diverse populations show reduced phonotactic complexity. We also experiment with incorporating the auxiliary task of predicting syllable constituency, but do not find an increase in the negative correlation observed.

通过对荷兰方言和闽方言的微观研究，我们在方言层面上发现了词长和音韵复杂性之间的权衡关系，并使用 LSTM 基于电话级别的语言模型得出实证证据。地理广义加性模型（GAM）表明，音韵复杂性较低的方言集中于首都地区，这与语言变体中人口较多或更多样化的陈述相对应。我们还尝试了将预测音节构成作为辅助任务纳入，但未观察到负相关性的增加。

方言间的音韵复杂度