title: Is DNA a language?
abstract: DNA sequences usually involve local construction rules that affect different scales. As such their "dictionary" may not follow Zipf's law (a power law) which is followed in every natural language. Indeed, analysis of many DNA sequences suggests that no linguistics connections to DNA exist and that even though it has structure DNA is not a language. Computer simulations and a biological approach to this problem further support these results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 53201-413, USA.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Tsonis
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Elsner
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tsonis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004247:DNA; D007802:Language; D008957:Models, Genetic
chemical_list: D004247:DNA