[PRL] linguistics question

[Jeffrey D Palm]

Eli Barzilay wrote:
> On Dec  1, Jeffrey D Palm wrote:
> 
>>There's a linguistics theory (I think) that states something such as:
>>
>>Speakers are lazy and want to use as limited a vocublary as possible -- 
>>i.e. have multiple meanings for words.  But listeners would rather have 
>>as unabmiguous a vocabulary as possible -- one word, one meaning.
>>
>>Does any know the name of this theory?  I'm pretty sure it has a name.
> 
> 
> According to my wife -- principle of minimal effort which is forms the
> linguistic motivation for Zipf's law.
> 

Yep.  That's the one I was looking for.  Thanks!

-- 
Jeffrey Palm --> http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/jpalm