Re: Fewest words
Forgive me if I don't go anywhere near a categorical statement on this subject, but a cursory search produced this interesting claim:The word 'day' in Hebrew as used to describe the creation days in...
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Interested. Decides to see what can be discovered online.Enters 'smallest vocabulary' into Google.Inundated with George W. Bush hits.Gives up.
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I think the language with fewest words is Harmenian or Copt, save tribal languages.Paolowww.translation.server.com
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Sorry, basically my idea is that relatively isolated communities developed a smaller vocabulary.Paolo
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I wouldn't trust what some random person posted in a site's discussion group.Much of the difference in vocabulary counts of various languages is due to how well documented the language is. Thanks to...
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What Dave said, except I don't agree with:Much of the difference in vocabulary counts of various languages is due to how well documented the language is.English doesn't have a larger vocabulary count...
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Good points about borrowing and coining terms in English. But there are still large numbers of English words that are "preserved" because they are in dictionaries. They only come in for occasional use...
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Considering the original question from a more poetic standpoint (all the answers offered so far have been a wee bit on the prosaic side --- not to say unromantic), one might perhaps argue that the...
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Intriguingly, the Penguin Rhyming Dictionary lists 11 rhymes for love. The fact that one of them is Baal Shem Tov (Jewish religious leader), however, speaks volumes.In the UK we have at least one more...
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the Bantam-Megiddo Hebrew & English Dictionary claims to have 46000 entries (I haven't counted them personally) --- and it's just a little paperback; there are plenty of much heftier Hebrew...
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Careless of me, ElizaD. I should have specified [i]English[/i] dictionaries. Thank you for straightening me out (I do dislike slipshod writing, especially when it's my own). There is some other stuff...
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" I think the language with fewest words is Harmenian or Copt, save tribal languages."Well, yes, but most languages on Earth are "tribal" and I was rather expecting the answer to be one of the...
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