{"id":92492,"date":"2008-05-21T11:32:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-21T11:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weblogs.madrimasd.org\/\/universo\/archive\/2008\/05\/21\/92492.aspx"},"modified":"2010-01-22T03:47:41","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T02:47:41","slug":"la-estructura-de-los-diccionarios-jerarquias-leyes-de-escala-y-regla-de-miller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/2008\/05\/21\/92492","title":{"rendered":"La Estructura de los Diccionarios: Jerarqu\u00edas, Leyes de Escala y Regla de Miller"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Supongo que, como casi todo el mundo, <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">pensaba ingenuamente que un diccionario pose\u00eda una estructura muy elemental consistente en<\/span><\/b> un mero ordenamiento de los vocablos a definir por orden alfab\u00e9tico. Nada m\u00e1s lejos de la realidad. De hecho,<b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\"> atesoran una estructura matem\u00e1tica muy rica y jer\u00e1rquica<\/span><\/b>, con vistas a ser <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">productos altamente eficientes y econ\u00f3micos a la hora de transmitir la informaci\u00f3n que contienen<\/span><\/b>. Lo sorprendente resulta ser que <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">ni sus propios arquitectos lo sab\u00edan<\/span><\/b>. <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">\u00bfCu\u00e1les son las estructuras subyacentes a los diccionarios?<\/span><\/b> Vamos a tratar de explicarla sucintamente, as\u00ed como <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">su sorprendente similitud<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>con las de las taxonom\u00edas jer\u00e1rquicas<\/span><\/b>.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blogs\/universo\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/42\/files\/159\/o_Diccionarios.jpg\" height=\"212\" width=\"431\"><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jvk\/19894053\"><span style=\"\" lang=\"ES\"><font color=\"#800080\">Diccionarios (Fuente: Flickr)<\/font><\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\" lang=\"EN-GB\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">La primera noticia sobre este descubrimiento, apareci\u00f3 tanto en <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2008\/04\/080430105600.htm\"><font color=\"#800080\">Sciencedaily<\/font><\/a>, como en <a href=\"http:\/\/www.terradaily.com\/reports\/Decoding_The_Dictionary_Study_Suggests_Lexicon_Evolved_To_Fit_In_The_Brain_999.html\"><font color=\"#800080\">Terradaily<\/font><\/a>. El autor es Mark Changizi y el t\u00edtulo del trabajo original:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Changizi, M. A. 2008. Economically organized hierarchies in WordNet and the Oxford English Dictionary. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Cognitive Systems Research <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">(In Press).<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Le\u00eddas ambas<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">, y a falta del art\u00edculo cient\u00edfico original, ni corto ni perezoso, <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">le envi\u00e9 un mail a Changizi<\/span><\/b>. La raz\u00f3n estriba en que <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">lo que hab\u00eda descubierto coincid\u00eda con un trabajo m\u00edo sobre la estructura de las taxonom\u00edas biol\u00f3gicas y edafol\u00f3gicas. Demasiadas coincidencias<\/span><\/b> (no se ha publicado, pero se encuentra aceptado, a falta de peque\u00f1as modificaciones que debo realizar ahora por recomendaci\u00f3n de los referees). Sorprendentemente, <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">a la media hora ya me hab\u00eda contestado<\/span><\/b> (igual que los \u201cespa\u00f1olitos\u201d de excelencia que se creen Dioses, cuando salen en las noticias). Seguidamente,<b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\"> en otro mail<\/span><\/b>, le cont\u00e9 mis pesquisas y <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">le hice dos preguntas adicionales<\/span><\/b>: <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0cm;\" type=\"disc\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">\u00bfEl n\u00famero de palabras por jerarqu\u00eda se ajusta a una ley de escalas?<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">\u00bfConoce usted la regla de Miller?<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Volvi\u00f3 a contestarme inmediatamente mand\u00e1ndome <\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">el trabajo original (de pago) y otros relacionados con el tema. Yo le envi\u00e9 mi documento. <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Quedamos en intercambiar opiniones<\/span><\/b> cuando los ley\u00e9ramos. La verdad es que estas cosas solo me ocurren con los cient\u00edficos de <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">yanquilandia<\/span><\/b> (ya os contar\u00e9 varias experiencias). De los espa\u00f1oles y europeos mejor no hablar.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Pero a lo que vamos:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"color: green; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">La Estructura de un Diccionario<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">La estructura de un diccionario al uso posee un patr\u00f3n muy rico que tiene por objeto:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0cm;\" type=\"disc\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Optimizar el flujo de informaci\u00f3n con la mayor econom\u00eda posible (n\u00famero de p\u00e1ginas respecto al de palabras definidas)<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Realizar su elaboraci\u00f3n de tal forma que no sature nuestras capacidades cognitivas, sino que se adapte a ellas.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Y lo intrigante es que <span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\"><b>a<\/b><b>mbos objetivos y resultados tambi\u00e9n se presentan en las taxonom\u00edas<\/b><\/span>, utiliz\u00e1ndose en ambas las <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">leyes de escala<\/span><\/b> (distribuciones potenciales) <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">y la Regla de Miller<\/span><\/b>, de la que ya os hable en este post:<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"> \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><A href=\"http:\/\/weblogs.madrimasd.org\/universo\/archive\/2007\/12\/28\/81441.aspx\"><span style=\"\" lang=\"ES\"><font color=\"#800080\">Psicolog\u00eda Cognitiva, N\u00fameros M\u00e1gicos, Regla de Miller y Taxonom\u00eda de Suelos<\/font><\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">\u201d. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Los Diccionarios poseen la forma de una pir\u00e1mide invertida. En la base<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"> (como est\u00e1 al rev\u00e9s coincide con la c\u00faspide), aparecen <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">un gran n\u00famero de palabras complejas<\/span><\/b> (nivel jer\u00e1rquico inferior), <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">mientras que en el v\u00e9rtice del tri\u00e1ngulo<\/span><\/b> (nivel jer\u00e1rquico superior) <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">un min\u00fasculo n\u00famero de palabras muy simples que no se definen<\/span><\/b>. A estas \u00faltimas, Mark las denomina <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">at\u00f3micas<\/span><\/b>. <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">En medio, nos encontramos con varios niveles jer\u00e1rquicos de vocablos, cuyo n\u00famero es inversamente proporcional al rango que ocupan en ella<\/span><\/b>. Aunque el trabajo no lo menciona expl\u00edcitamente, tal estructura se ajusta a una <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">ley potencial<\/span><\/b>. Las escasas <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">palabras at\u00f3micas en la c\u00faspide sirven de ladrillos para construir otras m\u00e1s numerosas en el nivel jer\u00e1rquico inferior, y as\u00ed sucesivamente hasta el rango de 7<\/span><\/b>, a partir del cual no se generaba econom\u00eda adicional alguna. Mark comprob\u00f3, utilizando el afamado <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Diccionario Oxford<\/span><\/b>, as\u00ed como el electr\u00f3nico <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Wordnet (Universidad de Princeton)<\/span>,<\/b> <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">que de haberse realizado tan solo con dos niveles jer\u00e1rquicos, el Oxford, por ejemplo, contendr\u00eda al menos un 30% de p\u00e1ginas<\/span><\/b> <b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">adicionales para dar cuenta del mismo contenido <\/span><\/b>(n\u00famero de palabras a definir).<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Reitero que se trata de<b><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\"> un patr\u00f3n fractal<\/span><\/b>, como ya apunt\u00e9 al hablar de las taxonom\u00edas en el siguiente post: <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><A href=\"http:\/\/weblogs.madrimasd.org\/universo\/archive\/2007\/08\/01\/71004.aspx\"><span style=\"\" lang=\"ES\"><font color=\"#0000a0\">\u00bfEs la Mente Fractal?: Dedicado a Eusebio Sempere<\/font><\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">. <span style=\"\">&nbsp;<\/span>Ya os describ\u00ed, que la <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">regla de Miller a\u00f1ade otra constricci\u00f3n<\/span><\/b> al n\u00famero de posibilidades de elaborar un diccionario o una taxonom\u00eda eficiente. <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Todo parece apuntar que nuestra memoria reciente no es capaz de manejar m\u00e1s de 7 palabros y\/o constructos mentales a la vez<\/span><\/b>. <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Lo intrigante, es que<\/span><\/b> lo que <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">el<\/span><\/b> autor denomin\u00f3 <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">\u201cn\u00famero m\u00e1gico 7\u201d transciende a <\/span><\/b>nuestras capacidades de la memoria reciente<b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">, para aparecer tambi\u00e9n en otros dominios de las neurociencias, y no conocemos la raz\u00f3n<\/span><\/b>.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Resumiendo, <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">los seres humanos, como defiende Changizi, por evoluci\u00f3n cultural, seleccionan constructos adaptados a nuestras estructuras mentales<\/span><\/b>. Tal actividad es <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">inconsciente<\/span><\/b>. Sin embargo, <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">las regularidades matem\u00e1ticas generadas son muy ricas<\/span><\/b>. Y yo apostillo, <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">estas son muy semejantes a la manera en la que<span style=\"\"> <\/span>la naturaleza se auto-organiza<\/span><\/b>, <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">ya que de no ser as\u00ed, probablemente nuestra mente solo percibiera ruido del mundo exterior<\/span><\/b>. Ya iremos abundando sobre el tema. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\">Juan Jos\u00e9 Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blogs\/universo\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/42\/files\/159\/o_markchangizi.jpg\"><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.geocities.com\/changizi\"><font color=\"#800080\">Mark Changizi. Fuente: Su p\u00e1gina Web<\/font><\/a><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: AdvEPSTIM;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Resumen <\/span><\/b><st1:state><st1:place><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: AdvEPSTIM;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">del<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:state><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: AdvEPSTIM;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"> trabajo original<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: AdvEPSTIM;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Good definitions consist of words that are more basic than the defined word. There are, however, many ways of satisfying this desideratum. For example, at one extreme, there could be a small set of atomic words that are used to define all other words; i.e., there would be just two hierarchical levels. Alternatively, there could be many hierarchical levels, where a small set of atomic words is used to define a larger set of words, and these are, in turn, used to define the next hierarchically higher set of words, and so on to the top-level of very specific, complex words. Importantly, some possible organizations are more economical than others in the amount of space required to record all the definitions. Here I ask, How economical are dictionaries? I present a simple model for an optimal set of definitions, predicting on the order of seven hierarchical levels. I test the model via measurements from WordNet and the Oxford English Dictionary, and find that the organization of each possesses the signature features expected for an economical dictionary. _ 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: green; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Terradaily:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: green; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Decoding The Dictionary: Study Suggests Lexicon Evolved To Fit In The Brain<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">by Staff Writers; <\/span><st1:place><st1:city><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Troy<\/span><\/st1:city><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"> <\/span><st1:state><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">NY<\/span><\/st1:state><\/st1:place><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"> (SPX) May 01, 2008<br style=\"\"><br style=\"\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">The latest edition of the <\/span><st1:city><st1:place><b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Oxford<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:city><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"> English Dictionary boasts 22,000 pages of definitions<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">. While that may seem far from succinct, <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">new research suggests the reference manual is meticulously organized to be as concise as possible<\/span><\/b> &#8211; <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">a format that mirrors the way our brains make sense of and categorize the countless words in our vast vocabulary<\/span><\/b>. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Dictionaries are built like an inverted pyramid. The most complex words <\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">(e.g., \u00abalbacore\u00bb and \u00abantelope\u00bb)<b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\"> sit at the top and are defined by words that are more basic<\/span><\/b>, <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">and thus lower on the pyramid. Eventually all words are linked to a small number of words &#8211; called \u00abatomic words<\/span><\/b>,\u00bb (such as \u00abact\u00bb and \u00abgroup\u00bb) &#8211; <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">that are so fundamental they cannot be defined by simpler terms<\/span><\/b>. <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">The number of levels of definition it takes to get from a word to an atomic word is called the \u00abhierarchical level\u00bb of the word<\/span><\/b>.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00ab<b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Dictionaries have often been thought of as a frustratingly tangled web of words where<\/span><\/b> the definition of word A refers users to word B, which is defined using word C, which ends up referring users back to word A,\u00bb said <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Mark Changizi<\/span><\/b>, assistant professor of cognitive science at <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<\/span><\/b>. \u00abBut this research suggests that <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">all words are grounded in a small set of atomic words &#8211; and it&#8217;s likely that the dictionary&#8217;s large-scale organization has been driven over time by the way humans mentally systematize words and their meanings<\/span><\/b>.\u00bb<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><span style=\"\">&nbsp;<\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">The number of levels of definition it takes to get from a word to an atomic word is called the \u00abhierarchical level<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00bb of the word. Changizi&#8217;s research, which was published online this week and will appear in the June print edition of the <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Journal of Cognitive Systems Research<\/span><\/b>, indicates that the <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">dictionaries we use every day utilize approximately the optimal number of hierarchical levels &#8211; and provide a visual roadmap of how the lexicon itself has culturally evolved over tens of thousands of years to help lower the overall \u00abbrain space\u00bb required to encode it,<\/span><\/b> according to Changizi. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Many other human inventions &#8211; such as writing and other human visual signs &#8211; have been designed either explicitly or via cultural selection over time so as to minimize their demands on the brain<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">, Changizi said. By conducting a series of calculations based on the estimation that the most complex words in the dictionary total around 100,000 different terms, and that the number of atomic words range from 10 to 60, <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Changizi was able to devise three signature features present in the most efficient dictionaries &#8211; as well as in their human counterpart, the brain<\/span><\/b>. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Most importantly, he discovered that <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">the total number of words across all the definitions in the dictionary (and thus the size of the dictionary) changes in relation to the total number of hierarchical levels present<\/span><\/b>. <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Optimal dictionaries should have approximately seven hierarchical levels<\/span><\/b>, according to Changizi. \u00ab<b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">The presence of around seven levels of definition<\/span><\/b> will r<b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">educe the overall size of the dictionary, so that it is about 30 percent <\/span><\/b>of the size it would be if there were <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">only two hierarchical levels<\/span><\/b>,\u00bb Changizi said. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Additionally, users will find that <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">there are progressively more words at each successive hierarchical level,<\/span><\/b> <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">and that each hierarchical level contributes mostly to the definitions of the words just one level above their own<\/span><\/b>, according to <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Changizi, who put his three predictions<\/span><\/b> to the test by studying actual dictionaries. <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">The <\/span><\/b><\/span><st1:city><st1:place><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Oxford<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:city><b style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"> English Dictionary and WordNet<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"> &#8211; a large, online lexical database of English, developed at <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">Princeton University <\/span><\/b>&#8211; were found to possess all three signatures of an economically organized dictionary, and thus were organized in such a way as to economize the amount of dictionary space required to define the lexicon, according to Changizi. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00abSomehow, <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">over centuries, these revered reference books have achieved near-optimal organization,<\/span><\/b>\u00bb Changizi said. \u00abThat optimality can likely be attributed to the fact that<b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\"> cultural selection pressures over time have shaped the organization of our lexicon so as to require as little mental space and energy as possible<\/span><\/b>.\u00bb <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;\" lang=\"EN-GB\">Changizi believes his research has <b style=\"\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 102, 255);\">potential applications in <\/span><\/b>the study of childhood learning, where scientists could analyze how students learn vocabulary words and possibly develop ways to optimize that learning process. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supongo que, como casi todo el mundo, pensaba ingenuamente que un diccionario pose\u00eda una estructura muy elemental consistente en un mero ordenamiento de los vocablos a definir por orden alfab\u00e9tico. Nada m\u00e1s lejos de la realidad. De hecho, atesoran una estructura matem\u00e1tica muy rica y jer\u00e1rquica, con vistas a ser productos altamente eficientes y econ\u00f3micos a la hora de transmitir la informaci\u00f3n que contienen. Lo sorprendente resulta ser que ni sus propios arquitectos lo sab\u00edan. \u00bfCu\u00e1les son las estructuras subyacentes a los diccionarios? Vamos a tratar de explicarla sucintamente, as\u00ed como su sorprendente similitud&nbsp; con las de las taxonom\u00edas jer\u00e1rquicas.\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[609,586,597,616,601],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":4}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134670,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92492\/revisions\/134670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}