zipf’s law
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2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babak Ravandi ◽  
Valentina Concu

Abstract Hierarchies are the backbones of complex systems and their analysis allows for a deeper understanding of their structure and how they evolve. We consider languages to be also complex adaptive systems. Hence, we analyzed the hierarchical organization of historical syntactic networks from German that were created from a corpus of texts from the 11th to 17th centuries. We tracked the emergence of syntactic structures in these networks and mapped them to specific communicative needs. We named these emerging structures communicative hierarchies. We hypothesise that the communicative needs of speakers are the organizational force of syntax. We propose that the emergence of these multiple communicative hierarchies is what shapes syntax, and that these hierarchies are the prerequisite to the Zipf's law. The emergence of communicative hierarchies indicates that the objective of language evolution is not only to increase the efficiency of transferring information. Language is also evolving to increase our capacity to communicate more sophisticated abstractions as we advance as a species.


REGIONOLOGY ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 642-665
Author(s):  
Irina A. Sekushina

Introduction. In modern Economics, one of the most common and simplest methods of analyzing the balance of urban settlement systems is to assess their compliance with Zipf's law or the rank–size rule. The basis of this pattern is the relationship between urban population and its place in the hierarchy of towns ranked in descending order of size. Based on the results of the study conducted, the article assesses the balance of the urban settlement system of the European North Russia, as one of its regions, by analyzing its compliance with Zipf’s law. Materials and Methods. The official data from the Federal State Statistics Service on the population of towns in the European North of Russia for 1959, 1989 and 2019 were used as materials of the study. The method of constructing a linear regression between the logarithm of the actual population and the logarithm of the rank of the town was used to verify Zipf's law for the urban network of the region in a certain period. In order to substantiate the conclusions drawn, an analysis of the dynamics of the number of towns and the share of the population living in them was carried out. The monographic method, as well as the methods of tabular and graphical data visualization, was used to interpret the results of the calculations. Results. Based on the analysis of data on the application of the rank–size rule for the towns in the European North of Russia, it has been found that Zipf’s law was not fully observed in any time period, which indicates the imbalance of the existing urban settlement system. In the period from 1959 to 2019, there was an increase in the concentration of the population in the major cities of the region. The imbalance is also caused by the growing number of small towns with a population that does not correspond to the optimal value according to Zipf's law. Discussion and Conclusion. Based on the calculations, the author has come to the conclusion that the cities of Arkhangelsk and Cherepovets have the potential for growth, as well as some others with a population of up to 100 thousand people. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the results obtained to prognosticate the population of towns in the European North of Russia when planning the location of production facilities, as well as transport and social infrastructure in the region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 127 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Onofrio Mazzarisi ◽  
Amanda de Azevedo-Lopes ◽  
Jeferson J. Arenzon ◽  
Federico Corberi
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 105460
Author(s):  
Xiangdong Sun ◽  
Ouyang Yuan ◽  
Zhao Xu ◽  
Yanhui Yin ◽  
Qian Liu ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Safryghin ◽  
Catharine P Cross ◽  
Brittany Fallon ◽  
Raphaela Heesen ◽  
Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho ◽  
...  

Two language laws have been identified as manifestations of universal principles of animal behaviour, both acting on the organisation of numerous vocal and behavioural communicative systems. Zipf's law of brevity describes a negative relationship between behavioural length and frequency of behaviour. Menzerath's law defines a negative correlation between the number of behaviours in a sequence and average length of the behaviour composing it. Both laws have been linked with the information-theoretic principle of compression, which tends to minimise code length. We investigate the presence of these two laws in the repertoire of chimpanzee sexual solicitation gestures. We find that chimpanzee solicitation gestures do not follow either Zipf's law of brevity or Menzerath's law consistently. For the second time in ape gestural communication, evidence supporting Zipf's law of brevity was absent, and, here, the presence of Menzerath's law appears individually driven. Ape gesture does not appear to manifest a principle of compression or pressure for efficiency that has been previously proposed to be universal. Importantly, the same signals were shown to adhere to these laws when used in a different behavioural context; highlighting that signallers consider signalling efficiency broadly, and diverse factors play important roles in shaping investment in signal production.


Glottometrics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 27-41
Author(s):  
Minna Bao ◽  
Brintag Saheya ◽  
Dabhurbayar Huang

Many authors have examined the influence of loanwords in languages using statistical methods. However, English loanwords in Mongolian are rarely studied in quantitative linguistics. The results of the present study show that English loanwords in Mongolian share the universal feature of other tested languages, as their frequency distribution abides by Zipf’s Law. In addition, we define and test nine English loanword models depending on borrowing method and parts of speech, and find that the results can be described using a power function.


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