https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01815-w
Human languages with greater information density
have higher communication speed but lower
conversation breadth
Published: 16 February 2024
Abstract
Human languages vary widely in how they encode
information within circumscribed semantic domains
(for example, time, space, colour, human body
parts and activities), but little is known about
the global structure of semantic information and
nothing about its relation to human communication.
We first show that across a sample of ~1,000
languages, there is broad variation in how densely
languages encode information into words. Second,
we show that this language information density is
associated with a denser configuration of semantic
information. Finally, we trace the relationship
between language information density and patterns
of communication, showing that informationally
denser languages tend towards faster communication
but conceptually narrower conversations or
expositions within which topics are discussed at
greater depth. These results highlight an important
source of variation across the human communicative
channel, revealing that the structure of language
shapes the nature and texture of human engagement,
with consequences for human behaviour across levels
of society.
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