{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:24:43Z","timestamp":1777854283863,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[1993,8,1]],"date-time":"1993-08-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":744163200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Information Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1993,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Studies of word frequency distributions have been used in linguisties for some time and are frequently used in information socnce research for such purposes as predicting numbers of key words or computing the significance of a word by its frequency of occurrence In this paper we provide a historical review of some of the developments in a particular aspect of word frequency analysis known as Zipf's Law but in fact first explicitly formulated by E U Condon, and later modified by B Mandelbrot. We present an exploratory analy sis of the use of Mandelbrot's parameters in discriminating among languages and language usage Some suggestions are made for using these parameters to characterize artificial (command) languages or the manner of use of these languages by different groups, for the purpose of enabling a computer interface to respond to users in a manner suited to their backgrounds or skills.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/016555159301900401","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,3,18]],"date-time":"2007-03-18T02:07:59Z","timestamp":1174183679000},"page":"247-257","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["An analysis of Zipf-Mandelbrot language measures and their application to artificial languages"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Charles T.","family":"Meadow","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Library and Information Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada"}]},{"family":"Jiabin Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Library and Information Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada"}]},{"given":"Manal","family":"Stamboulie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Library and Information Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1993,8,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","volume-title":"A Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling","author":"LP Ayres","year":"1915"},{"key":"atypb2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0019-9958(67)90201-X"},{"key":"atypb3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0306-4573(84)90038-4"},{"key":"atypb4","volume-title":"Man-Computer Problem Solimg Relationship Between User Characteristies and Interface Complexity","author":"James H. Carlisle","year":"1974"},{"key":"atypb5","first-page":"300","volume":"1733","author":"E U.","year":"1928","journal-title":"Science LXVIH."},{"key":"atypb6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.4630340505"},{"key":"atypb7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4159\/harvard.9780674419193"},{"key":"atypb8","volume-title":"Sci Thousand Common English Words","author":"R.C. Eldridge","year":"1911"},{"key":"atypb9","volume-title":"Gammes Stenographiques","author":"J.B. Estoup.","year":"1916","edition":"4"},{"key":"atypb10","volume-title":"Gammes Stenographiques","author":"J.B. Estoup","edition":"5"},{"key":"atypb11","first-page":"19","volume":"56","author":"Helen Fairbanks","year":"1944","journal-title":"Psychological Monographs"},{"key":"atypb12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/asi.4630330406"},{"key":"atypb13","unstructured":"Benoit Mandelbrot , An informational theory of the statistical structure of language. In: Willis Jackson, ed. Communication Theory. (Butterworths Scientific Publications, London, 1953) 486-502"},{"key":"atypb14","unstructured":"Benoit Mandelbrot , Information theory and psycholinguistics: a theory of word frequencies. In Lazarsfeld, P.F. and Henry, N.W. Eds. Readings in Mathematical Social Science. (MIT Press, Cambridge, 1968) 350-368"},{"key":"atypb15","volume-title":"Jiabin Wang and Weijing Yuan A comparison of user performance with different information retrieval mterfaces","author":"Charles T. Meadow","year":"1992"},{"key":"atypb16","volume-title":"Rhythyms of Dialogue in Human-Computer Conversation","author":"W David Penniman","year":"1975"},{"key":"atypb17","volume-title":"The Social Impact of Information Retriecal, 7th Annual National Colloquium on Information Retrieval","author":"M. Weinstock"},{"key":"atypb18","first-page":"831","volume":"49","author":"John C.","year":"1943","journal-title":"Psychiatry"},{"key":"atypb19","volume-title":"Human Behat for and the Principle of Least Effort","author":"George Kingsley Zipf","year":"1949"}],"container-title":["Journal of Information Science"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/016555159301900401","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/016555159301900401","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T23:04:41Z","timestamp":1777503881000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/016555159301900401"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1993,8]]},"references-count":19,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1993,8]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/016555159301900401"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/016555159301900401","relation":{},"ISSN":["0165-5515","1741-6485"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0165-5515","type":"print"},{"value":"1741-6485","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1993,8]]}}}