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Title:
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Word lengths are optimized for efficient communication |
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Author:
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Piantadosi, S. T.; Tily, H.; Gibson, E. |
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Department:
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
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Publisher:
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National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) |
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Issue Date:
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2011-03 |
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Abstract:
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We demonstrate a substantial improvement on one of the most celebrated empirical laws in the study of language, Zipf's 75-y-old theory that word length is primarily determined by frequency of use. In accord with rational theories of communication, we show across 10 languages that average information content is a much better predictor of word length than frequency. This indicates that human lexicons are efficiently structured for communication by taking into account interword statistical dependencies. Lexical systems result from an optimization of communicative pressures, coding meanings efficiently given the complex statistics of natural language use. |
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URI:
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http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65880
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ISSN:
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1091-6490 |
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Citation:
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Piantadosi, S. T., H. Tily, and E. Gibson. “Word lengths are optimized for efficient communication.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (2011): 3526-3529.©2011 by the National Academy of Sciences. |
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Version:
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Final published version |
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Terms of Use:
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. |
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Published as:
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1012551108
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Journal:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
