Why more words in English?
- easily imports words from other languages, cultures and traditions.
- "the relative simplicity of its grammar and syntax.”
How many English words do you need?
There are different
opinions on this question.
Lederer has suggested that a typical English speaker
has a vocabulary of between 10,000 and 20,000 words.
Steven Pinker talks of 60,000 ‘by
high school’.
There is, of course, a difference between our passive
and active language. Passive language is the language
we know but perhaps do not use.
There are many words we recognise but perhaps do not
say or write. Active language is those word we use.