Advances in Cognitive Sociolinguistics (Cognitive Linguistic Research)

48 Augusto Soares da Silva

1950s to 28.8% in the 1970s suggests convergence between both varieties
in relation to the FORWARD profile.
Another profile-based uniformity measure consists of calculating un-
iformity within a single language variety. The internal uniformity reaches
its highest value when all the speakers, in every circumstance, choose the
same lexical item to denote a given concept. The internal uniformity value
will decrease the more terms there are competing to denote the same con-
cept, and the more dominant some of these terms become. The internal
uniformity measure, or I/I’ measure, can be calculated with the following
formulae, which are related to the external uniformity formulae presented
before.

IZ(Y) = FZ,Y (xi )^2

The internal uniformity I for a concept Z in the sample Y equals the square
sum of relative frequencies F of the lexical item x in the onomasiological
profile for Z in Y.

I’(Y) = IZi (Y).GZi (Y)

The internal uniformity I’ for a set of concepts Z in the sample Y equals the
sum of I-values for Zs weighted by the relative frequencies G of Z within
the total set of Zs in Y.

Table 2. Internal uniformity (I) for the FORWARD profile in EP and BP in the 1950s

FORWARD P50 I B50 I

atacante 8,8 77,8 36,6 1340,7

avançado 71,6 5128,8 0,9 0,9

avante 0,0 0,0 48,9 2393,5

dianteiro 19,2 369,2 6,8 45,8

forward 0,1 0,0 5,2 27,4

ponta-de-lança 0,3 0,1 1,5 2,4

55,8 38,1

The I/I’ measure is here used mainly in a comparative perspective. Consid-
er again the example of the FORWARD profile. As Table 2 shows, the inter-

i

n

1

∑

=

i

n

1

∑

=