Language as an Evolving Word Web

Abstract

Human language can be described as a complex network of linked words. In such a treatment, each distinct word in language is a vertex of this web, and neighboring words in sentences are connected by edges. It was recently found (Ferrer and Solé) that the distribution of the numbers of connections of words in such a network is of a peculiar form which includes two pronounced power-law regions. Here we treat language as a self-organizing network of interacting words. In the framework of this concept, we completely describe the observed Word Web structure without fitting.