Forwarded from Wakingup1984
A blog post for The Economist agrees that English is rich in vocabulary, but comparisons with other languages canβt be made for several reasons.
The simplest problem in comparing the size of different languages is inflection.
Do we count βrunβ, βrunsβ and βranβ as three separate words? Another problem is multiple meanings. Do we count βrunβ the verb and βrunβ the noun as one word or two? What about βrunβ as in the long run of a play on Broadway? According to a recent NPR article, βrunβ has at least 645 different meanings!
ARTICLE
The simplest problem in comparing the size of different languages is inflection.
Do we count βrunβ, βrunsβ and βranβ as three separate words? Another problem is multiple meanings. Do we count βrunβ the verb and βrunβ the noun as one word or two? What about βrunβ as in the long run of a play on Broadway? According to a recent NPR article, βrunβ has at least 645 different meanings!
ARTICLE