Timeline for How many English words are of native origin?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 8 at 15:03 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | I'd think that the surveyors took these variables into account in working up their results. 20%-33% is hardly precise (33% of N being 65% higher than 20% of N). | |
| Aug 8 at 8:52 | comment | added | Stuart F | There are lots of ways to count words - are derived words separate (freedom from free); what about plurals, verb forms etc; are you counting by frequency of use; what about archaic, slang, dialect; what texts or speech are you using, or if using a dictionary, what dictionary; etc? | |
| Aug 8 at 0:47 | comment | added | Unrelated | Trying to decide whether this is an attempt to use more "intestinal" words or not | |
| Apr 7, 2020 at 20:11 | comment | added | John Lawler | Percentages vary a lot with style and context. Scientific literature is very high in Latinate and Greek "intestinal" terms, with fewer "gutsy" Germanic words. And speech is very different from writing here, so, as with any analysis, one can't say much without specifying precisely what area one is counting, and how the count is conducted. When I was teaching freshman etymology, I used to tell students to pick a paragraph they particularly liked and look up the roots of every word in it. It's not a hard thing to do if you have a dictionary. | |
| Apr 7, 2020 at 18:36 | history | answered | Edwin Ashworth | CC BY-SA 4.0 |