Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!cornellcs!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!news.acsu.buffalo.edu!dsinc!spool.mu.edu!news.sgi.com!enews.sgi.com!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!news.maz.net!news.axis.de!news
From: bernd.pompe@erlangen.netsurf.de (Bernd Pompe)
Subject: Re: Word Count in English vs. Other Languages
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: 194.163.170.11
Message-ID: <DwrGz4.65@news.axis.de>
Sender: news@news.axis.de
Organization: AXIS GmbH
X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 19:03:41 GMT
Lines: 82

Neil Coffey <neil@ccsware.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>>>Is it true that English has more words than most languages?

>True, in general.
If you compare English to Spanish or Italian, in my opinion it's not
true.

>...
>I think more significant is the fact that English (and other
>Germanic languages) can form new words simply by compounding existing
>words.
>  English: wall + pecker = wallpecker
>...
Admittedly, regarding word formation by compounding existing words
English has more words than Spanish or Italian.

>The problem really is that the number of possible words is virtually
>infinite. At a simple level, you've got prefixes/suffixes:
>  establish
>  establishment
>  establishmentarian
>  establishmentarianism
>...
In Spanish:
estable, estabilidad, estabilizacion, estabilizador, estabilizante,
estabilizar, establecer, establecimiento...

>Okay, this is a bit of an old chestnut, but you get the idea - if you
>really want to you can create loads of new words you can do so just by
>adding prefixes/suffixes. I'm not sure that some of the words at the
>bottom of the list could be testified, but they in theory could be
>used to carry meaning if so desired, and so could be considered to
>belong to the language.

In Spanish (or Italian) you can also create loads of words by adding
suffixes that express a certain attitude of the speaker (so-called
sufijos apreciativos). Translation of these words is sometimes very
difficult.
Examples:
- sufijos aumentativos (-azo, -isimo, -on, -ote...)
  "animal" -> "animalazo" (animal -> big animal)
- sufijos diminutivos (-ito, -illo, -ico, -ino, -ejo, -ete...)
  "casa" -> "casita" (house -> small house)
- sufijos despectivos (-aco, -acho, -uco, -ucho, -uelo, -uzo...)
  "gente" -> "gentuza" (people -> mob)

You can add suffixes not only to nouns, but to almost any other parts
of speech.
Examples:
- adjectives
  "facil" -> "facilon" (easy -> very easy)
- cardinal, ordinal numbers
  "ciento" -> "cinquito" (hundred -> hundred (sum of no importance))
  "primero" -> "primerito" (the first -> the very first)
- adverbs
  "cerca" -> "cerquita" (close -> very close)
- verbs
  "llorar" -> "lloriquear" (to cry -> to blubb)
- proper nouns, eg names of persons, nationalities...
  "Miguel" -> "Miguelon"
  "Espanola" -> "Espanolaza"

Especially the last examples show the wide range of word formation by
adding suffixes that doesn't exist in English or German.

Furthermore, you can add more than one suffix to a word (eg "plaza" ->
"plazoleta").

According to Jacques de Bruyne (Spanische Grammatik) there are about
200 suffixes! So the number of words in Spanish or Italian is
virtually infinite, too (though you can't form words in an arbitrary
way).

Bernd


--
* bernd.pompe@erlangen.netsurf.de (till 31 August 1996)              *
* new email address from 1 September 1996                            *
* join the Blue Ribbon Campaign (http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html) *

