All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a #language is twice as frequent as the second most frequent, three times as frequent as the third, and so on.
The same pattern is universally found across human languages bit also occurs in #whale song.
This complex signaling system, like human language, is culturally learned by each individual from others.
#biology
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-whalesong-patterns-universal-law-human.html
The same pattern is universally found across human languages bit also occurs in #whale song.
This complex signaling system, like human language, is culturally learned by each individual from others.
#biology
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-whalesong-patterns-universal-law-human.html
Whalesong patterns follow a universal law of human language, new research finds
All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a language is twice as frequent as the second most frequent, three times as frequent as the third, and so on. This is known as Zipf's law.Jenny Allen (Phys.org)
