Rating Japanese Words on Subjective Norms: A Bayesian Linear Mixed-Model Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51094/jxiv.2164Keywords:
Japanese Lexical Norms, Concrete-Abstract, PolysemyAbstract
We present new subjective norms for Japanese vocabulary based on the Word List by Semantic Principles (100,827 words).
Native speakers participated in a web-based survey in which they rated each word on five 0–5 scales: concreteness, abstractness, obsoleteness, innovativeness, and polysemousness.
Ratings were analyzed for each sense label, reflecting distinctions defined in the source lexicon.
Using Bayesian Linear Mixed Models (BLMMs) with random effects for participants and lexical items, we separated shared variance and estimated credible effects.
Polysemousness showed a weak positive association with abstractness, while obsoleteness and innovativeness exhibited opposite tendencies, confirming that they function as opposing poles on a diachronic evaluative dimension of word meaning.
Conflicts of Interest Disclosure
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants JP25K00459, JP23K21935, and JP22K18483, as well as by a collaborative research project at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL). No funding or support was received from privateDownloads *Displays the aggregated results up to the previous day.
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Submitted: 2025-12-08 10:12:18 UTC
Published: 2025-12-10 02:29:45 UTC
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Masayuki Asahara
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