Zipf's Law: Difference between revisions

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||On Children|ni'o srana loi panzi
Zipf's Law (see for example [http://www.parc.xerox.com/istl/groups/iea/papers/ranking/ranking.html,] http://www.kornai.com/MatLing/statling.html) was formulated in the 1940's by Harvard linguistics professor George Kingsley Zipf (1902-1950) as an empirical generalisation, and states that the n-th most frequent word in a language shows up with frequency 1/n.


And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."|.i pa ninmu poi jgari pa cifnu re'o lo cutne be vo'a cu cusku lu e'o ga'i nai ko tavla mi'a loi panzi li'u
''So the most frequent two words account for 150% of the language?''


And he said:|.i je ko'a cusku lu
* ... ignoring boundary cases, obviously.


Your children are not your children.|ju'a lo panzi be do na du lo panzi be do
Zipf made the further assumption that, the shorter a word is, the more common it is; this ties in to the more general empirical observation that 'smaller' events are commoner than 'larger' events. (http://www.parc.xerox.com/istl/groups/iea/papers/ranking/ranking.html for other laws expressing this.) This observation is also referred to loosely as 'Zipf's Law', but is not what people outside linguistics understand by it.


They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.|.i je py bersa jo'u tixnu lo ka le kamji'e cu tcedjica tu'a ri
----


They come through you but not from you,|.i py co'a zasti se pi'o do ra'i nai do
However, this is only a generalization; & every language has common polysyllabic terms, because


And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.|.i je py kansa do .i to'e se ni'i nai bo py na'e se ponse do
they are useful. It doesn't mean a long term is somehow "doomed". (And as Talen says, 'If you want


You may give them your love but not your thoughts.|.i e'a do fi py dunda fe lo ka do prami e nai lo selpensi be do
[http://www.invisiblelighthouse.com/langlab/vorlin1999.html orlin], you know where to find it.')


For they have their own thoughts.|.i ki'u bo py krasi lo selpensi be vo'a
* How common do you mean? Just "everyday", or "extremely high frequency, top 250 words" sort of thing? If the former, then yes, but that is not really the key issue. If the latter, I will bother to check for English. --[[User:And Rosta|And Rosta]]
 
You may house their bodies but not their souls,|.i e'a do sabgau fi le zdani be lo xadni be py ku e nai lo ruxse'i be py
 
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.|.i ki'u bo pe'a lo ruxse'i be py cu xabju le bavlamdei zdani noi do na ka'e vitke zi'e noi ta'i lo nu senva ji'a sai na ka'e vitke
 
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.|.i e'a do troci lo nu binxo lo simsa be py .i je ku'i e'a nai ko na troci lo nu gasnu lo nu py simsa do
 
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.|.i ki'u bo pe'a le kamji'e na mo'i ti'a klama gi'e na stali le prulamdei
 
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.|.i do se ga'ardanti pe'a lo jmive no'u lo panzi be vo'a
 
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.|.i pe'a le za'e ga'ardance'apre cu viska le te renro no'u le ve pluta pe le cimni gi'e krori'a do se pi'o le ka vo'a tsali kei te zu'e lo nu le ga'ardanti cu sutra je darno vofli
 
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;|.i pe'a e'u sai lo nu ko se krori'a fi lo nu lo go'i cu jgari do lo xance cu nu gleki
 
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.|.i ki'u bo lo go'e du'i lo ni vo'a prami le ga'ardanti poi vofli cu prami le ga'ardance'a poi stodi ku ji'a li'u||
 
||[[jbocre: T|The Prophet]] |le prije ctuca / le pijyctu (the wise teacher)
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: The Coming of the Ship]] |.i nu selklama le bloti
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Love]] |lo ka prami
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Marriage]] |lo nu speni
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Children]] |lo  panzi
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Giving]] |lo nu dunda
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Eating and Drinking]] |lo nu citka je pinxe
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Work]] |lo zu'o gunka
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Joy and Sorrow]] |lo li'i gleki je badri
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Houses]] |lo zdani
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Clothes]] |lo taxfu
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Buying and Selling]] |lo nu tevecnu je vecnu
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Crime and Punishment]] |lo zekri .e lo nu sfasa
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Laws]] |lo flalu
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Freedom]] |lo za'i zifre
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Reason and Passion]] | lo nu krinu pensi .e lo se cinmo
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Pain]] | lo nu dunku
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Self-Knowledge]] | lo nu sevzi djuno
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Teaching]] | lo nu ctuca
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Friendship]] | lo nu pendo
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Talking]] | lo nu tavla
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Time]] | lo temci
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Good and Evil]] | lo ka vrude .e lo ka pacna
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Prayer]] | lo nu jdaselsku
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Pleasure]] | lo za'i pluka
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Beauty]] | lo ka melbi
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Religion]] | lo lijde
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: On Death]] | lo nu morsi
 
[[jbocre: The Prophet: The Farewell]] | le nu cusku zo co'o||

Latest revision as of 07:02, 9 July 2014

Zipf's Law (see for example [1] http://www.kornai.com/MatLing/statling.html) was formulated in the 1940's by Harvard linguistics professor George Kingsley Zipf (1902-1950) as an empirical generalisation, and states that the n-th most frequent word in a language shows up with frequency 1/n.

So the most frequent two words account for 150% of the language?

  • ... ignoring boundary cases, obviously.

Zipf made the further assumption that, the shorter a word is, the more common it is; this ties in to the more general empirical observation that 'smaller' events are commoner than 'larger' events. (http://www.parc.xerox.com/istl/groups/iea/papers/ranking/ranking.html for other laws expressing this.) This observation is also referred to loosely as 'Zipf's Law', but is not what people outside linguistics understand by it.

However, this is only a generalization; & every language has common polysyllabic terms, because

they are useful. It doesn't mean a long term is somehow "doomed". (And as Talen says, 'If you want

orlin, you know where to find it.')

  • How common do you mean? Just "everyday", or "extremely high frequency, top 250 words" sort of thing? If the former, then yes, but that is not really the key issue. If the latter, I will bother to check for English. --And Rosta
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