File Download
  Links for fulltext
     (May Require Subscription)
Supplementary

Article: Different languages, similar encoding efficiency: Comparable information rates across the human communicative niche

TitleDifferent languages, similar encoding efficiency: Comparable information rates across the human communicative niche
Authors
Issue Date2019
PublisherAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science: Science Advances. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.scienceadvances.org/
Citation
Science Advances, 2019, v. 5 n. 9, p. article no. eaaw2594 How to Cite?
AbstractLanguage is universal, but it has few indisputably universal characteristics, with cross-linguistic variation being the norm. For example, languages differ greatly in the number of syllables they allow, resulting in large variation in the Shannon information per syllable. Nevertheless, all natural languages allow their speakers to efficiently encode and transmit information. We show here, using quantitative methods on a large cross-linguistic corpus of 17 languages, that the coupling between language-level (information per syllable) and speaker-level (speech rate) properties results in languages encoding similar information rates (~39 bits/s) despite wide differences in each property individually: Languages are more similar in information rates than in Shannon information or speech rate. These findings highlight the intimate feedback loops between languages’ structural properties and their speakers’ neurocognition and biology under communicative pressures. Thus, language is the product of a multiscale communicative niche construction process at the intersection of biology, environment, and culture.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/283058
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 11.7
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 4.483
PubMed Central ID
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorCoupe, C-
dc.contributor.authorOh, YM-
dc.contributor.authorDediu, D-
dc.contributor.authorPellegrino, F-
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-05T06:24:28Z-
dc.date.available2020-06-05T06:24:28Z-
dc.date.issued2019-
dc.identifier.citationScience Advances, 2019, v. 5 n. 9, p. article no. eaaw2594-
dc.identifier.issn2375-2548-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/283058-
dc.description.abstractLanguage is universal, but it has few indisputably universal characteristics, with cross-linguistic variation being the norm. For example, languages differ greatly in the number of syllables they allow, resulting in large variation in the Shannon information per syllable. Nevertheless, all natural languages allow their speakers to efficiently encode and transmit information. We show here, using quantitative methods on a large cross-linguistic corpus of 17 languages, that the coupling between language-level (information per syllable) and speaker-level (speech rate) properties results in languages encoding similar information rates (~39 bits/s) despite wide differences in each property individually: Languages are more similar in information rates than in Shannon information or speech rate. These findings highlight the intimate feedback loops between languages’ structural properties and their speakers’ neurocognition and biology under communicative pressures. Thus, language is the product of a multiscale communicative niche construction process at the intersection of biology, environment, and culture.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science: Science Advances. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.scienceadvances.org/-
dc.relation.ispartofScience Advances-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.titleDifferent languages, similar encoding efficiency: Comparable information rates across the human communicative niche-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.emailCoupe, C: ccoupe@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.authorityCoupe, C=rp02448-
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.1126/sciadv.aaw2594-
dc.identifier.pmid32047854-
dc.identifier.pmcidPMC6984970-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85072128116-
dc.identifier.hkuros310261-
dc.identifier.volume5-
dc.identifier.issue9-
dc.identifier.spagearticle no. eaaw2594-
dc.identifier.epagearticle no. eaaw2594-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000491128800011-
dc.publisher.placeUnited States-
dc.identifier.issnl2375-2548-

Export via OAI-PMH Interface in XML Formats


OR


Export to Other Non-XML Formats