Why does English have such a large vocabulary?

Ohss   Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:51 pm GMT
I read somewhere that English has over a million and a half words, comapred to French and German which have less than two hundred thousand words.
Robin Michael   Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:08 pm GMT
English borrows freely from other languages, so that any word in any language can be freely introduced into English and become - English!
Percival   Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:47 pm GMT
Here is an interesting quote.

"The statistics of English are astonishing. Of all the world's languages (which now number some 2,700), it is arguably the richest in vocabulary. The compendious Oxford English Dictionary lists about 500,000 words; and a further half-million technical and scientific terms remain uncatalogued. According to traditional estimates, neighboring German has a vocabulary of about 185,000 and French fewer than 100,000, including such Franglais as le snacque-barre and le hit-parade."

So English is one of the most vocabulary rich languages out there.
Damian in Edinburgh   Mon Oct 06, 2008 3:26 pm GMT
The answer is simple - English is an immensely rich Language in terms of vocabulary, containing more synonyms than any other Language on the face of the planet. There are words which appear on the surface to mean exactly the same thing but which, in fact, have a slighty different shade of meaning and must be used appropriately if you really want to convey precisely the message you really intend to convey with no possibility of any doubt.
Leasnam   Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:02 pm GMT
English is rich, but there are thousands of words in English that if used at all would sound utterly bizarre. I once used a thesaurus to find a synonym for 'anolamy', which was 'aberration', but using it (even correctly) was snickered at by a few close co-workers because it just didn't sound natural to use (which I knew it wouldn't...). Not saying that the word 'aberration' doesn't have its place--but very often many words are rather useless. BE HONEST. 'Pulchritude', 'lamprophony', 'depone' (--no, not 'de-bone', as one would de-bone a fish :-), 'floccinaucinihilipilification', 'inaniloquent', etc. Utterly useless all!


BE HONEST
Leasnam   Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:03 pm GMT
<<'anolamy'>>

LOL, that should be 'anaomaly'

my typing today has been HORRIBLE
Leasnam   Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:04 pm GMT
'anomaly

damn...
Wintereis   Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:16 pm GMT
I have used aberration, aberrant, etc. in a sentence on numerous occasions without much problem. People understood me and certainly didn't mind my use of the word. I think that you just have to be comfortable using the word, if you are going to introduce a new one to your vocabulary. Your discomfort with it is likely to affect your co-workers reaction. Are you around well educated people? I find that I tend to code switch depending on the education level of a person I am talking to.
Leasnam   Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:05 pm GMT
<<Are you around well educated people? I find that I tend to code switch depending on the education level of a person I am talking to. >>

I am, yes.

I think the reason I got that particular reaction was because it was so blatantly obvious that I had searched for a word to use in place of anomaly, because I was using that word (anomaly) so much. That's all :\

For all intents and purposes, 'aberration' shouldn't be listed among those other words. I only did because it was one that I had used that way experientially.
Guest   Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:33 pm GMT
Because the English language doesn't have an academy, therefore dictionaries can add any word they want, in fact the make up a lot of words, they just take them from Latin and try to make them look "English".
Leasnam   Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:39 pm GMT
English dictionaries by and large are a representation of the language in its current spoken and written form. So if a new word is coined or borrowed, it eventually becomes an entry. The English dictionaries are not intended to govern the language.
Guest   Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:22 pm GMT
More than half the words in the biggest English dictionaries are unknown by most people, so it's not like most people used them and that's why they were added, it's more like dictionaries are tyring to add as many words as possible just to say that English has the "biggest vocabulary" and since they don't have an academy to stop them they can do whatever they want.
Guest   Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:25 am GMT
Many English words are have subtle meanings, like quaint.
In most languages there's no word for this, you have to translate it descriptively: old-fashioned but pleasant/nice.
Hurhghh   Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:19 pm GMT
"Guest Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:22 pm GMT
More than half the words in the biggest English dictionaries are unknown by most people, so it's not like most people used them and that's why they were added, it's more like dictionaries are tyring to add as many words as possible just to say that English has the "biggest vocabulary" and since they don't have an academy to stop them they can do whatever they want. "

This is probably the most bizarre thing I've read all day. Just think about it ... think about the reasoning this person did to come up with that comment. It's mind boggling.
Guest   Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:43 pm GMT
Oh really?... if I were to read all the words in the biggest English dictionaries, I bet you by far most people wouldn't know what half the words meant.