3 ms·

It would be interesting to consider word length, as well. Longer words would seem to convey more information.

• deleted 7y ago
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• pdonis 7y ago
  But you can speak fewer of them in a given time, so the rate of information exchange would still be basically the same. The paper does consider the number of available phonemes and syllables in different languages, which presents a tradeoff along the same lines.
  • smitty1e 7y ago
    Sure, available phonemes. But that seems indirectly related at best to the number of phonemes per word, and the number of words. Simply put: is there more information per page of a romance novel than a textbook? The former is going to be closer to common speech. Or, if somebody speaks like a textbook, they may lack an audience. But does Mr. Textbook convey more information?
    • pdonis 7y ago
      > that seems indirectly related at best to the number of phonemes per word, and the number of words. I wasn't saying they were the same, just that the tradeoff presented was similar. > is there more information per page of a romance novel than a textbook? I don't think these are even comparable since they are written for different purposes. But in any case this comparison is not the kind of comparison the article is talking about.
      • smitty1e 7y ago
        Not the first time I have completely misunderstood the question, then.