The word order of a sentence is shaped by multiple principles. The principle of syntactic dependency distance minimization is in conflict with the principle of surprisal minimization (or predictability maximization) in single head syntactic dependency structures: while the former predicts that the head should be placed at the center of the linear arrangement, the latter predicts that the head should be placed at one of the ends (either first or last). A critical question is when surprisal minimization (or predictability maximization) should surpass syntactic dependency distance minimization. In the context of single head structures, it has been predicted that this is more likely to happen when two conditions are met, i.e. (a) fewer words are involved and (b) words are shorter. Here we test the prediction on the noun phrase when its composed of a demonstrative, a numeral, an adjective and a noun. We find that, across preferred orders in languages, the noun tends to be placed at one of the ends, confirming the theoretical prediction. We also show evidence of anti locality effects: syntactic dependency distances in preferred orders are longer than expected by chance.

翻译：句子的语序受多种原则共同塑造。在单一核心词句法依存结构中，句法依存距离最小化原则与意外度最小化（或可预测性最大化）原则存在冲突：前者预测核心词应置于线性排列的中心位置，而后者则预测核心词应置于两端（首位或末位）之一。一个关键问题是，在何种条件下，意外度最小化（或可预测性最大化）应超越句法依存距离最小化。针对单一核心词结构，已有理论预测：当同时满足两个条件时更易发生此情况，即（a）涉及更少词汇且（b）词汇长度更短。本文在由指示词、数词、形容词和名词构成的名词短语中检验该预测。研究发现，在各语言的优选语序中，名词趋于置于两端之一，证实了理论预测。我们还展示了反局域效应证据：优选语序中的句法依存距离显著长于随机预期值。