Frequency drives conventionalization: higher-exposure communities conventionalize more words

abenitezburraco · x · 2026-10-24

A study on conventionality and transparency in human language finds that more frequent words are more likely to be conventionalized, and communities with more shared exposure to the common ground have a higher proportion of conventionalized words. The accompanying phase diagram shows a sharp boundary: high-frequency meanings conventionalize even with low shared exposure, while low-frequency meanings require substantial shared exposure to become conventional.

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