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 it is 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：句子的词序受多重原则塑造。在单核心句法依存结构中，句法依存距离最小化原则与惊奇度最小化（即可预测性最大化）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之一（首端或尾端）。关键问题在于，何时惊奇度最小化（即可预测性最大化）应超越句法依存距离最小化。针对单核心结构，已有理论预测这一情况更易在同时满足两个条件时发生：（a）涉及词汇数量较少，且（b）词汇长度较短。本文以由指示词、数词、形容词和名词构成的名词短语为对象验证该预测。跨语言优选词序的证据表明，名词倾向于置于两端之一，证实了理论预测。我们还发现了反局域效应证据：优选词序中的句法依存距离显著高于随机预期值。