Short Words, Short Data

Research from MIT suggests that word length is more associated with the amount of information it contains than its frequency.

Earlier this year I remember reading this short article from MIT on some research that showed word length had more to do with information being communicated than frequency of occurrence. Ran across it again and thought it was worth sharing:

Why are some words short and others long? For decades, a prominent theory has held that words used frequently are short in order to make language efficient: It would not be economical if “the” were as long as “phenomenology,” in this view. But now a team of MIT cognitive scientists has developed an alternative notion, on the basis of new research: A word’s length reflects the amount of information it contains.

The article goes on to explain, "For English words, 9 percent of the variation in length is due to amount of information, and 1 percent stems from frequency." Not entirely sure what to do with this yet, but seems worth knowing.