DocumentCode
2055933
Title
Zipf´s law, hyperbolic distributions and entropy loss
Author
Harremoes, Peter ; Topsoe, Flemming
Author_Institution
Dept. of Math., Copenhagen Univ., Denmark
fYear
2002
fDate
2002
Firstpage
207
Abstract
Zipf\´s law is an empirical observation which relates rank and frequency of words in natural languages. The law suggests modelling by distributions of "hyperbolic type". We present a general definition and an information theoretical characterization of such distributions. This leads to a property of stability and flexibility, explaining that a language can develop towards higher and higher expressive powers without changing its basic structure.
Keywords
computational linguistics; entropy; information theory; natural languages; Zipf´s law; entropy loss; expressive powers; flexibility; hyperbolic distributions; information theoretical characterization; natural languages; stability; word frequency; Costs; Councils; Entropy; Frequency; Mathematics; Natural languages; Proposals; Stability; Tail; Vocabulary;
fLanguage
English
Publisher
ieee
Conference_Titel
Information Theory, 2002. Proceedings. 2002 IEEE International Symposium on
Print_ISBN
0-7803-7501-7
Type
conf
DOI
10.1109/ISIT.2002.1023479
Filename
1023479
Link To Document