Words: Use 'em or lose 'em

As language erodes into textspeak, it begs the question: Just how important are words?

Very important, apparently.

According to linguistic research, words are directly linked with the brain’s ability to distinguish among similar objects or qualities, and associated with the ability to understand those differences. Modern man continues to reduce daily spoken vocabulary, while expanding Oxford English Dictionary listings — which now exceed one million words (many obsolete or technical).

We use very few of those — about 171,000 currently, according to Oxford. While linguistic researchers estimate most educated adults recognize 50,000-70,000 words, according to the Reading Teachers Book of Lists, a vocabulary of only 3,000 words covers 95 percent of modern texts. Far fewer are needed for magazines, blogs, and conversation.

They say in Shakespeare’s time, the average literate English speaker used tens of thousands of words, while today, the average person uses only a few thousand. Pick up any novel from the 18th or 19th century and compare that vocabulary to ours; the difference is immediately apparent. Shakespeare’s prolific works added some 1,700 words to English (e.g., auspicious, baseless, dwindle, watchdog).

So what’s wrong with keeping it simple? Consider colors. Our ancestors didn’t see or recognize blue. There was no word for it in most cultures, except perhaps the Egyptians, until relatively modern times. Could you describe the sky, or eye color, without it? Cultures vary with specifics, but several studies comparing cultural color recognition illustrate that what seem the same two, or barely distinguishable, colors to some groups are starkly contrasting to others. Those who see “obvious” differences have another word for that color in their language. For example, the ratio of equivalent Korean words to English is 5:1 for what we would call the “same” primary colors.

Chinese has several words for “rice,” describing type and how cooked. In Arabic, many words translate to “camel,” signifying gender and type.

Next consider emotion.

“Mad” explains little. What about “frustrated” vs. “irate,” “irritated” vs. “enraged”? Does any evoke the same understanding as “annoyed”? How about “asinine” and “imprudent?” All synonyms, each with different meaning.

The fewer words in our vocabularies, and the less we use them, the less we understand of the world and one another. Better comprehension leads to better analysis and problem-solving. So more words mean better living.

While dictionaries certainly come in handy, exhaustive study isn’t required to improve vocabulary. Just head for the nearest bookstore or library.

After two million results, Testyourvocab.com concluded that while reading generally enhances vocabulary, what you read matters. Those who read more fiction had the biggest (and more accurate) vocabularies. That’s likely because novels tend to employ more words to describe in more detail, compared with nonfiction materials.

Next time: why learning a new language isn’t as hard as you might think, and the case for English as the modern lingua franca.

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Sholeh Patrick, J.D. is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at sholeh@cdapress.com.