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：句子的语序受多种原则共同塑造。在单中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（即可预测性最大化）原则存在冲突：前者预测中心词应置于线性排列的中心位置，而后者则预测中心词应置于两端（首位或末位）。一个关键问题是：何时意外度最小化（即可预测性最大化）应优先于句法依存距离最小化？针对单中心词结构，已有理论预测当满足两个条件时更可能发生这种情况，即：（a）涉及的词语数量较少；（b）词语长度较短。本文以指示词、数词、形容词与名词构成的名词短语为对象检验该预测。研究发现，在各语言的优势语序中，名词倾向于置于两端位置，验证了理论预测。我们还展示了反局部性效应的证据：优势语序中的句法依存距离显著高于随机预期水平。