The Red Cloud chief., 1888-07-13
the WORDS WE USE.

THE WORDS We USE.
Interssting studies on the Subject Made
BY . Reliable Writer.
At an educational meeting held in
this State a few years ago the conduct
or. q noted professor. made the follow
ing statement: The best educated
person in this room will not use more
than 600 or 700 words" He also as
signed q small number to persons Of
limited education. stating that an ig-
norant man would not use more than
200 or 800 words. l had before seer
statements of similar import in public
print, and to test their correctness !
began an investigation Of the matter.
The subject was brought anew to my
mind by observing Al article in which
Prof. Bancroft remarked: 1T has been
estimated that an English farm hand
has q vocabulary limited to 800 words.
An American wOrkingman who reads
the newspapers may command from
700 to 1000 words. Five thousand is
a large number. even for an educated
reader or speaker" This assertion is
much nearer the truth than that Of the
institute conductor mentioned. For
the benefit of those who may be inter-
ested. I offer the results Of my study
on the subject. An intelligent person
can make the same examination, and
will arrive at substantially the same
results.
took Webster's high-schOOl dlctiOn-
airy. edition 1873. containing 1874 pages
Of vocabulary. and examined each
word in the book. l made q note Of
those words which I supposed l had
used ut some time either in speaking
or writing. l counted the primitive
words and those derivatives whose
meaning is most at variance with the
primitive. Thus. l count fright and
fruit. but not brighten. frightful fright
fully nor fruitage. fruiterer, fruitful.
fruitfulness, fruitiOn and fruit-trec. l
omitted most of the compound words.
especially when the component parts
directly indicated the meaning. as
milk-pail. Westinghouse. rag-man.
but counted those whose significance
a not directly indicated. as crOwbar.
quicksand. tinfOil. As the result Of
this examination. I had 1928 words,
which. 1 think. l myself have used.
There were 4l9 in A. 52S in 3, 766
in c. ass in D. 235 in f. 500 in F. 279
in G.. 2S6 in H. $50 in 1. 81 in J, - in
X. go in L. 476 in NJ, IA in n. 217 in
O. us in P. IS in Q. S97 in Il. 954 in
s. 454 in T. Al in U. 148in v. 2O3 in W.
q in X and Y and 10 in Z.
Had l counted the various deriva-
tives in common use. it il probable the
number would be nearly double.
To make a further test of words at
my command. l spent about two hours
in writing from memory words in A.
l was able to note down 5S7 words that
l could use if occasion required. This
is t~hirty-five per cent. mOre than l had
counted from the dictionary. Should
the same proportion hold good in all
the letters. it would follow that l
recall from memory 10. 200 words. all
of which are familiar.
made another count and came to
the conclusion that l could give a fair
definition of at least $4,000 words in
that book. and would understand their
Specification in a printed article or
spoken address.
The above estimates r based upon
my wi experience and knowledge be-
cause it was convenient to make the
experiment with myself. Every we'll
informed nan will be - competent. or
more 80. Either professor mentioned
will have a more extended vocabulary
than l have.
then took at random. in the same
dictionary. a page in each letter. and
counted the words in very common 3
On twenty-four pages there 254
such words. This would give $500
words in use by persons Of the most
ordinary intelligence. None of these
lists include any proper names.
At the time of making this study. one
Of my children was three years and two
months of age. 1 noted down (and still
have the lists) 2l3 words used by her
In one day. They were words that any
intelligent child would use, chiefly |
names of household articles and COM
mon things, with the most ordinary
verbs and partciples. I did not hear
all she said during the day. nos do l
think she used all the words she knew.
I estimated her vocabulary at 400
words, and she did not know enough
to carry ON any except childish con-
versatiOn.
From all of the foregoing Observa-
lions I drew the following conclusions:
Every we'll read man Of fair ability
will be able to define or understand
%. 700 or $4,000 primitives and princi-
pal derivative words.
The same man in his conversation
and writings will use not less than
5000 or 1000 words. II he be q liter
ary man he will command 1000 or 5000
more.
Common noOn1e uso from ION Tn