English approaches the one million-word mark

English approaches the one million-word mark

13.04.06 1.00pm
By Rupert Cornwell


WASHINGTON - It will not be of much comfort to President George Bush and others who, on occasion, struggle to make themselves understood.

But some time soon the English language, according to at least one reasonably authoritative source, will create its one-millionth word.

The Global Language Monitor (GLM), a San Diego-based linguistic consultancy, reckoned that on 21 March (the vernal equinox) this year, there were about 988,968 words in the language, "plus or minus a handful".

At the current rate of progress, the one-million mark will be reached this summer.

And how does the GLM know? It started, it says, with a base vocabulary drawn from major dictionaries that contain the historic core of the language.

Then it created its own algorithm, or formula, called the Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), that measures the language as found in print, electronic media, and on television and radio.

That establishes a rate of increase in the creation of new words, and the import and absorption of foreign words into English.

No one argues about the huge richness of the English language - fed by Germanic, Scandinavian and Latin streams, unrivalled in its readiness to borrow from every language, and mercifully free of tiresome bodies like the Academie Francaise to decide what counts and what does not.

More @ http://tinyurl.com/k45uy nzherald.co.nz

English isn't spoken or read in the South Western US or in fact in many major cities in the US. We have the 'invaders' to thank for that.