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URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0510019

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Authoritative: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2005.10.039   (Publisher's PDF... likely be available here.)

Source: http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0510019

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Abstract

We use the formulation of equilibrium statistical mechanics in order to study some important characteristics of language. Using a simple expression for the Hamiltonian of a language system, which is directly implied by the Zipf law, we are able to explain several characteristic features of human language that seem completely unrelated, such as the universality of the Zipf exponent, the vocabulary size of children, the reduced communication abilities of people suffering from schizophrenia, etc. While several explanations are necessarily only qualitative at this stage, we have, nevertheless, been able to derive a formula for the vocabulary size of children as a function of age, which agrees rather well with experimental data.

Keywords: Language; Zipf law; Statistical physics; Language evolution

@article{kosmidis05statisticalMechanics,
  author={Kosmas Kosmidis and Alkiviadis Kalampokis and Panos Argyrakis},
  title={Statistical Mechanical Approach to Human Language},
  journal={Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications},
  year={2006},
  month={July},
  volume={366},
  pages={495-502},
  doi={10.1016/j.physa.2005.10.039},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/kosmidis05statisticalMechanics.html},
  keywords={Language; Zipf law; Statistical physics; Language evolution}
}

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