Why do almost all languages ​​obey Zipf's law?

Even languages ​​we have not yet deciphered, such as the language in the Voynich Manuscript, seem to follow this rule.

Humans often pride themselves on the complexity and unpredictability of the way we use language. However, a strange phenomenon called Zipf's law challenges this idea, and the arrangement and frequency of words in most languages ​​around the world follow a fixed mathematical pattern , although the reasons behind it remain a mystery.

 The frequency with which words appear in a language follows a power law.

More than 80 years ago, linguist George Kingsley Zipf discovered that the frequency of words in a language follows a power law . Specifically, the most common word in a language—like "the" in English—is used twice as often as the second most common word, three times as often as the third most common word, and so on.

This phenomenon is not limited to English, but to every language studied , from Hindi to Mandarin to Spanish. More surprisingly, even undeciphered languages ​​such as the Voynich Manuscript and ancient texts follow Zipf's law. Literary works such as Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and even Shakespeare's Hamlet are no exception.

Why does language follow this law?

Language is not completely random but follows hidden rules.

The existence of Zipf's law raises many important questions. One hypothesis proposed by George Zipf is the trade-off between effort and efficiency. Speakers or writers tend to use common words to minimize effort, while listeners or readers seek clarity in less common words. As a result, language is shaped in a way that optimizes the information conveyed.

Another idea is that more common words tend to have a "snowball effect ," meaning that the more they are used, the more common they become. However, neither explanation is really universally accepted.

Exploring Language Through the Lens of Zipf's Law

Although linguists and mathematicians have yet to find the root cause, Zipf's law opens up a new way of looking at the operation of language. This also highlights the strange logic of communication , showing that language is not completely random but follows hidden rules.

You can even test the validity of this law by applying it to individual texts. Paste a novel or long article into a language analysis software and you'll see how surprisingly the words follow this rule.

Although we don't fully understand why, Zipf's law is a fascinating demonstration of the connection between mathematics and language, raising big questions about how language forms and develops in human culture.