1 Chapter 1. Introduction: status and definition of compounding ...

2. Since there is no clear-cut boundary between acceptable and unacceptable meanings the
predictability of the meanings of naming units is a cline.
Then, the Predictability Rate of a particular reading of a novel, context-free naming unit
can be calculated as its frequency of occurrence weighted for the scores assigned:
(18)
PR
r
R
max
p
P
max
where r = the number of informants identifying a particular meaning as acceptable
Rmax = the total number of informants
p = the sum total of the points assigned to a given meaning by all informants (on a scale
from 1 to 10, where 10 stands for the highest acceptability of the meaning)
Pmax = the maximum possible number of points assignable by all informants
For example, in my (2005a) experiments, the reading ‗a book for babies (fairy tales,
rhymes, pictures; drawings)‘ of the naming unit baby book was proposed by 38 out of 40
informants, i.e., the frequency of occurrence of this reading is 38/40 = 0.95. The scores assigned
to this reading are 306 points of the total of 400 assignable points, which is 0.765. The resulting
PR of this particular reading is therefore 0.727. It is much higher than the PR of, for example,
‗a naive, babyish book‘, also proposed for this sample naming unit, because it was only proposed
by 16 out of 40 informants (16/40 = 0.40), and its frequency of occurrence was merely 0.213,
which gives the PR of 0.085.
By implication, this method of calculation of PR makes it possible to evaluate the strength of
various readings proposed for a novel, context-free word, and thus determine the degree of their
predictability.
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