Size of German Vocabulary vs. Size of English Vocabulary
Reinhard Klemm
English) supposedly contains many more words than the German language.
Does anybody have some thoughts on this, i.e., is this claim true or
true with further qualifications? How does one measure the size of the
vocabulary of a language (e.g., is the number of entries in the Duden
vs. the number of entries in the Oxford Dictionary the authoritative
answer)?
Thanks,
Reinhard
Stefan Doll
> I recently heard that the English language (British or American
> English) supposedly contains many more words than the German language.
> Does anybody have some thoughts on this, i.e., is this claim true or
> true with further qualifications?
Well it depends. :-)
German allows the speaker to build compound words, so given that there
is no actual hard limit to the number of words in German, and so it
is bound to have more words than English.
On the other hand if you want to discount compound words (at least the
non-standard ones which are not in the Duden) than you should expect
less words for German, since German often uses compound words where
English requires a whole new word. As an example: in British English
you'd use a word like "hoover", in German you use "Staubsauger" (literally
dust sucker) instead. Since "Staub" and "Sauger" are already German words,
the compound word would not be counted and English ends up having one word
more.
The problem for German is: the words tend to be longer than English ones.
The problem for English is: unless you know the word you have no idea what
it may refer to. Even if you were a native speaker (e.g. American, and thus
more familiar with "vaccuum cleaner") you'd be stumped by "hoover".
Another question is whether words which change their meaning radically
depending on context, should be counted separately. E.g. "boot = Stiefel",
"boot = Kofferraum" (British English, in AE "trunk" is used), is that one
word or two? More radically: "their", "there" "they're" - should those be
counted separately?
> How does one measure the size of the
> vocabulary of a language (e.g., is the number of entries in the Duden
> vs. the number of entries in the Oxford Dictionary the authoritative
> answer)?
That's a possibility. However the best method would probably be determined
according to the purpose of the question. What precisely are you trying to
find out when you do the counting?
E.g. if it's for the purpose of a pissing contest "my language is better
than yours", then you should pick whatever method makes your favorite win.
:-)
Cheers
Stefan
wer...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
> I recently heard that the English language (British or American English)
> supposedly contains many more words than the German language.
what I heard (and bought into) is that there are often two or more terms
for the same "thing" or "concept" -- one of French/Latin origin, the other
Germanic/Celtic (well, not unlike German, one might comment, but maybe not
so "general" (only true for the more complex concepts and items?!?)
> How does one measure the size of the vocabulary of a language
by weight (of the respective duden)?!?
<chuckle> seriously though, one would have to make allowances for the
fact that "German text" tends to be ~20% longer (apparently because
either/both words are longer or one needs more words to say the same
things). I suspect there has been a dissertation or two (dozen) written
about that...
:-)
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Reinhard Klemm
answer to my question is as complicated as I thought it might be...
Reinhard
wer...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu () wrote in message news:<c28iaa$qik$1...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu>...
adrian
cleaner. It is the same as You and I or Me and You which most English
speakers get wrong.
Stefan Doll
> Stefan Doll <pls_use...@sneakemail.com> wrote in message
> news:<c28ehq$pp3$00$1...@news.t-online.com>...
>> Reinhard Klemm wrote:
>>
>> > I recently heard that the English language (British or American
>> > English) supposedly contains many more words than the German language.
>> > Does anybody have some thoughts on this, i.e., is this claim true or
>> > true with further qualifications?
>>
>> Well it depends. :-)
>>
>> German allows the speaker to build compound words, so given that there
>> is no actual hard limit to the number of words in German, and so it
>> is bound to have more words than English.
>
> That would be "potential words" not actual words. Do they sell
> hypothetical word dictionaries, about words that "could be"?
Not necessarily, obviously there is no limit on the words you could build,
but there are words which are in use but will not easily find their way
into a dictionary. Lets say I compile a list of the members of my sport
club, then mail it to all members. In the subject line I put something like
"Sportklubmitgliedsliste". Now that's a German word, it's likely been used
before but it's in the Duden. To put it there would be nonsensical, just as
it wouldn't make sense to compile a dictionary of all possible sentences.
(Phrases of course are another matter.)
Certain compound words do make it into the Duden, since they become common.
(e.g. "Telefonkabel, Lautsprecher, Brieftasche" are presumably in).
> In any case, this would be uncountable, because Chinese also is a
> constructable language, among many others.
Agreed.
[...]
> So number of words doesn't explain a lot about the characteristics of
> language or usage.
Also agreed.
-Stefan