Com o fantasma do Google começando a assustar, eis que encontrei uma afirmação que chamou minha atenção: a de que a língua inglesa tem, por tradição, assimilar palavras novas por inteiro, enquanto as outras línguas tentam traduzí-las. E, por esta característica, teria se tornado a "língua do povo". A notícia está na CNN.
English gets millionth word on Wednesday (CNN) - English contains more words than any other language on the planet and added its millionth word early Wednesday, according to the Global Language Monitor, a Web site that uses a math formula to estimate how often words are created. The site estimates the millionth English word, "Web 2.0" was added to the language Wednesday at 5:22 a.m. ET. The term refers to the second, more social generation of the Internet. The site says more than 14 words are added to English every day, at the current rate. The "Million Word March," however, has made the man who runs this word-counting project somewhat of a pariah in the linguistic community. Some linguists say it's impossible to count the number of words in a language because languages are always changing, and because defining what counts as a word is a fruitless endeavor. Paul J.J. Payack, president and chief word analyst for the Global Language Monitor, says, however, that the million-word estimation isn't as important as the idea behind his project, which is to show that English has become a complex, global language. It's a people's language," he said. Other languages, like French, Payack said, put big walls around their vocabularies. English brings others in. "English has the tradition of swallowing new words whole," he said. "Other languages translate." Íntegra do artigo em http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/06/10/million.words/index.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "English Learner's Cafe" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/english_learners?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
