A Crucial Parameter for Rank-Frequency Relation in Natural Languages
Chenchen Ding · arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024
$f \propto r^{-α} \cdot (r+γ)^{-β}$ has been empirically shown more precise than a naïve power law $f\propto r^{-α}$ to model the rank-frequency ($r$-$f$) relation of words in natural languages. This work shows that the only crucial parameter in the formulation is $γ$, which depicts the resistance to vocabulary growth on a corpus. A method of parameter estimation by searching an optimal $γ$ is proposed, where a ``zeroth word'' is introduced technically for the calculation. The formulation and parameters are further discussed with several case studies.