Does Zipf’s law of abbreviation shape birdsong?

In human languages, words that are used more frequently tend to be shorter than words that are used less frequently. This pattern is known as Zipf’s law of abbreviation. It has been attributed to the principle of least effort – communication is more efficient when words that are used more frequently...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS computational biology 2025-08, Vol.21 (8), p.e1013228
Main Authors: Gilman, R. Tucker, Durrant, CD, Malpas, Lucy, Lewis, Rebecca N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal communication
Animals
Biology and Life Sciences
Bird populations
Birds
Computational Biology
Humans
Language
Languages
Physical Sciences
Population studies
Populations
Research and Analysis Methods
Social Sciences
Stereotyped behavior
Vocalization behavior
Vocalization, Animal - physiology
Words (language)
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
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