Longman Dictionary of

PE2379 ch06.qxd 24/1/02 16:07 Page 440
rank correlation
higher rank
clause
group (verbal, nominal, etc.)
word (verb, noun, etc.)
morpheme
lower rank
The term was first used by Halliday (see SYSTEMIC GRAMMAR, SYSTEMIC
LINGUISTICS).
rank correlation n
a type of coefficient of CORRELATION in which the two VARIABLEs 1 are
measured in ranks, or on ordinal scales (see SCALE). For example, a rank
correlation could be determined between the frequency of occurrence of
words in two different texts based on their ranks in each text.
TEXT A TEXT B
rank frequency word rank frequency word
1st a 1st the
2nd the 2nd and
3rd and 3rd a
In this data set, there is a negative correlation between the “rank order”
of the words in Text A and Text B.
rank scale n
see RANK
rapid reading n
another term for SPEED READING
rate of articulation n
see RATE OF SPEECH
rate of reading n
another term for READING SPEED
rate of speech n
also rate of utterance, speech rate
the speed at which a person speaks. This may depend on a number of factors,
such as the speaker’s personality, the type of topic, the number of
people present, and the speaker’s reactions to them. Another factor is the
speaker’s familiarity with the language or dialect he or she is using.
A distinction is often made between the rate of speech, measured by the
number of syllables per minute, and the rate of articulation, measured by
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