Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T01:50:35.691Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A source- and channel-coding approach to the analysis and design of languages and ideographies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2023

Mihnea Moldoveanu Open the ORCID record for Mihnea Moldoveanu [Opens in a new window]
Mihnea Moldoveanu*
Affiliation:
Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada mihnea.moldoveanu@rotman.utoronto.ca; https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/Faculty/FacultyBios/Moldoveanu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Can we explain the advantage natural languages enjoy over ideographies in a way that enables us to attempt the design of an ideography that “works”? I deploy an adapted version of Shannon's source- and channel-coding partitioning of a communication system to explain the communicative dynamics and shortfalls of ideographies, and reveal ways in which entrenchable, generalist ideographies could be designed.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e248
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cover, T. M., & Thomas, J. A. (2006). Elements of information theory. Wiley.Google Scholar
Shannon, C. E. (1948). A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Technical Journal, 27, 379–423, 623–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar