Artikel
Quantifying the efficiency of written language
Information theory can be used to assess how efficiently a message is transmitted on the basis of different symbolic systems. In this paper, I estimate the information-theoretic efficiency of written language for parallel text data in more than 1000 different languages, both on the level of characters and on the level of words as information encoding units. The main results show that (i) the median efficiency is ∼29% on the character level and ∼45% on the word level, (ii) efficiency on both levels is strongly correlated with each other and (iii) efficiency tends to be higher for languages with more speakers.
- Language
-
Englisch
- Subject
-
Sprachstatistik
Effizienz
Schriftsprache
Informationstheorie
Sprachzeichen
Wort
Sprache
- Event
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
-
Koplenig, Alexander
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
-
Berlin, Boston : De Gruyter
- (when)
-
2021-05-25
- URN
-
urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-104401
- Last update
-
06.03.2025, 9:00 AM CET
Data provider
This object is provided by:
Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache - Bibliothek. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache - Bibliothek. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Artikel
Associated
- Koplenig, Alexander
- Berlin, Boston : De Gruyter
Time of origin
- 2021-05-25
Other Objects (12)
Quantifying the efficiency of written language
Quantifying agglomeration: Dispersion forces
Quantifying Trump: The Costs of a Protectionist US
Quantifying yield gaps in wheat production in Russia
Quantifying correlation uncertainty risk in credit derivatives pricing
Quantifying the data-dredging bias in structural break tests
Quantifying model selection uncertainty via bootstrapping and Akaike weights
Quantifying the soil erosion legacy of the Soviet Union
A Note of Caution on Quantifying Banks' Recapitalization Effects
Quantifying eco-efficiency with multi-criteria analysis
Quantifying Brexit: from ex post to ex ante using structural gravity
Quantifying the Impact of Higher Capital Requirements on the Swiss Economy
Quantifying the efficiency of written language
Quantifying agglomeration: Dispersion forces
Quantifying Trump: The Costs of a Protectionist US
Quantifying yield gaps in wheat production in Russia
Quantifying correlation uncertainty risk in credit derivatives pricing
Quantifying the data-dredging bias in structural break tests
Quantifying model selection uncertainty via bootstrapping and Akaike weights
Quantifying the soil erosion legacy of the Soviet Union
A Note of Caution on Quantifying Banks' Recapitalization Effects
Quantifying eco-efficiency with multi-criteria analysis
Quantifying Brexit: from ex post to ex ante using structural gravity
Quantifying the Impact of Higher Capital Requirements on the Swiss Economy
Quantifying the efficiency of written language
Quantifying agglomeration: Dispersion forces
Quantifying Trump: The Costs of a Protectionist US
Quantifying yield gaps in wheat production in Russia
Quantifying correlation uncertainty risk in credit derivatives pricing
Quantifying the data-dredging bias in structural break tests
Quantifying model selection uncertainty via bootstrapping and Akaike weights
Quantifying the soil erosion legacy of the Soviet Union
A Note of Caution on Quantifying Banks' Recapitalization Effects
Quantifying eco-efficiency with multi-criteria analysis
Quantifying Brexit: from ex post to ex ante using structural gravity