Constraint on Proximate Repetition : With Special Reference to English

Abstract

We sometimes experience the difficulty of telling one twin from the other or of correctly dialing a telephone number containing a long string of identical numerals. Evidently the difficulty here arises from the proximate co-occurrence of similar elements. A similar phenomenon is observable in human language also with the result that proximate repetition of identical or nearly identical linguistic elements tends to be constrained. In fact, it has been argued elsewhere (Park, 1977a and 1977b) that something like the 'following principle lies at the root of this constraint on proximate repetition.