Word Usage
Jeff
I'm curious about how frequently some (US English) words are used. For
example, the words 'sated', 'disingenuous' and 'ontological' (or any variation
of those).
Where can I go to get a list like this?
For bonus points I'd like a list that is for spoken English and one for the
written language. I'm convinced "sated" is used more in writing than in
speech.
Thanks,
J
--
Be a Mensch. Everything else is commentary. [www.bongoboy.com]
Lalbert1
<the_dudeATbongoboy.com> writes:
>I'm curious about how frequently some (US English) words are used. For
>example, the words 'sated', 'disingenuous' and 'ontological' (or any
>variation
>of those).
>
>Where can I go to get a list like this?
Go to the Linguist website, http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/9/9-258.html and
start following the the addresses shown. Apparently the kind of list that you
are looking for exists.
Les
Lalbert1
(Lalbert1) writes:
As a follow-up to my post above, go to
http://www.edict.com.hk/textanalyser/wordlists.htm
They have the word lists.
Les
M C Hamster
news:20030819003055...@mb-m20.aol.com...
Unfortunately, almost all of the links are broken. A testament to academic
life, perhaps.
I couldn't find anything comparable in a few minutes of searching
(word+frequency), but there are lots of sites on this topic so there must be
lots of these. The computer obviously makes doing these incredibly easy
compared to earlier times (for written English). It looks like there's
something called the "Brown corpus" which comprises 1,015,945 words, of
which 47,218 are unique. I assume this refers to something Brown
University did. (See http://218.103.45.153/textanalyser/wordlists.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/kg3y .)
What's kind of amazing is that the eight most-frequently used words (the,
of, and, to, a, in, that, and is) comprise about 23% of all words in normal
written English. Nearly one out of every four words we write are one of
those eight! Seems kind of inefficient, since their semantic content is so
limited.
Think leave unnecessary short words out save time space.
M C Hamster "Big Wheel Keep on Turnin'" -- Creedence Clearwater Revival
Rick B.
news:3f41bbaa$0$58844$45be...@newscene.com:
> Think leave unnecessary short words out save time space.
Doubleplusgood!
M C Hamster
news:Xns93DC48848...@207.69.154.204...
Thank. Glad enjoyed post. Save much bandwidth leaving words.
Hamster "Big Wheel Keep Turnin'" -- Creedence Clearwater Revival
Lalbert1
<davo...@speakeasy.hairnet> writes:
>Lalbert1" <lalb...@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:20030819003055...@mb-m20.aol.com...
>> In article <5h03kvscuakg2ra63...@4ax.com>, Jeff
>> <the_dudeATbongoboy.com> writes:
>>
>> >I'm curious about how frequently some (US English) words are used. For
>> >example, the words 'sated', 'disingenuous' and 'ontological' (or any
>> >variation
>> >of those).
>> >
>> >Where can I go to get a list like this?
>>
>> Go to the Linguist website,
>http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/9/9-258.html and
>> start following the the addresses shown. Apparently the kind of list that
>you
>> are looking for exists.
>Unfortunately, almost all of the links are broken. A testament to academic
>life, perhaps.
Try this site:
http://www.edict.com.hk/textanalyser/wordlists.htm
Les
Crashj
Manny? That you?
Estron
> I'm convinced "sated" is used more in writing than in
> speech.
Every now and then I read a word in some printed article, stop, and think,
"You know, I don't think I've _ever_ heard that word spoken aloud."
"Sated" is not one of them, although I've heard "satiated" spoken more than
"sated."
An example of a word I've not heard spoken is "coevals." Then again, I've
never been to a reading from Nabokov's "Lolita."
--
All opinions expressed herein are only that, and are my own.
Pax vobiscum.
est...@tfs.net
Sugar Creek (really close to Kansas City), Missouri
Rick B.
news:MPG.19b51116d...@news.birch.net:
> Previously, in alt.fan.cecil-adams, Jeff wrote:
>
>> I'm convinced "sated" is used more in writing than in
>> speech.
>
> Every now and then I read a word in some printed article, stop,
> and think, "You know, I don't think I've _ever_ heard that word
> spoken aloud."
>
> "Sated" is not one of them, although I've heard "satiated"
> spoken more than "sated."
>
> An example of a word I've not heard spoken is "coevals." Then
> again, I've never been to a reading from Nabokov's "Lolita."
Eleemosynary. Desuetude.
Earlier today I scrambled to find a definition for "omadhaun"--an
online essayist apparently decided that no other term for "foolish
man or boy"[1] would do.
Rick B.
[1] As defined by Google's third hit (of a fat 277).
Lalbert1
<deep...@sprynet.com> writes:
>Earlier today I scrambled to find a definition for "omadhaun"--an
>online essayist apparently decided that no other term for "foolish
>man or boy"[1] would do.
>
That online essayist probably strives to be a logodaedalist, but he's just a
lexiphane.
Les
