> Meyer suspects one of the factors leading to this divide can be found in the numbers: according to her book, there are 500,000 words in the English language, but only 70,000 in French. This means that Anglophones are more likely to have the exact word to say what they want, whereas Francophones must often string together a series of words to communicate their message. This not only forces the French to be more creative with language, it also allows them to be more ambiguous with what they want to say. As a result, ‘non’ in France does not always mean ‘no’.
This is definitely a case of bad linguistics.
Without even cracking the nut of how many words are in either language,
* French tries to have an official authority while English does not. The academy is reluctant to admit new words, especially if they are borrowed, even when a word is otherwise in common use.
* English, like other Germanic languages, likes to compound words. French also compounds but it's not as productive. Very successful English compounds drop spaces or hyphenate and get inducted into the dictionary. Lexical procreation.
N.B. A word being in a dictionary is a matter of judgment, as a common word can be missing or a word that is almost never used can be present!
* Where a word is needed but absent, one will be invented or borrowed. Speakers are not constrained to be "creative" under the tyrrany of a limited lexicon from this time until the end of time.
* It's not clear that a limited lexicon would mean playing games with a concept as simple as "no". This seems strictly cultural.
* English may have, in some sense, 500k words but the vast majority of those are rare and not part of the principal vocabulary. And why would you think this is related to ways of expressing degrees between yes and no?
* Why should number of words be used to estimate the expressive power of a language?
> This means that Anglophones are more likely to have the exact word to say what they want, whereas Francophones must often string together a series of words to communicate their message
Have you ever lived in the US ? The hardest part for a French immigrant in the US is that when people invite you to do something it doesn’t mean anything and it’s never happening.
I lived in Switzerland, Thailand, and Germany, that’s something I’ve seen everywhere. And I’ve done it myself, I’m from the French-speaking side of Switzerland (Romandie).
yeah, it's extremely important to seem positive and friendly in every case. i definitely prefer the central european way of judging mainly on actions though
Yeah, the number of words in the language doesn't prove the author's point at all.
That said, the difference in lexicon size isn't a trick about authorities or dictionaries, it's a real obvious thing. In English one can usually reach for an obscure word to find a near-synonym with a subtle change in meaning - as well as walking, say, one can trudge or plod or amble, whereas in French you'd be reaching for phrases instead. It doesn't limit anyone's ability to express themselves.
This is definitely a case of bad linguistics.
Without even cracking the nut of how many words are in either language,
* French tries to have an official authority while English does not. The academy is reluctant to admit new words, especially if they are borrowed, even when a word is otherwise in common use.
* English, like other Germanic languages, likes to compound words. French also compounds but it's not as productive. Very successful English compounds drop spaces or hyphenate and get inducted into the dictionary. Lexical procreation.
N.B. A word being in a dictionary is a matter of judgment, as a common word can be missing or a word that is almost never used can be present!
* Where a word is needed but absent, one will be invented or borrowed. Speakers are not constrained to be "creative" under the tyrrany of a limited lexicon from this time until the end of time.
* It's not clear that a limited lexicon would mean playing games with a concept as simple as "no". This seems strictly cultural.
* English may have, in some sense, 500k words but the vast majority of those are rare and not part of the principal vocabulary. And why would you think this is related to ways of expressing degrees between yes and no?
* Why should number of words be used to estimate the expressive power of a language?