Michael Rosen- Word of Mouth radio documentary- The top 20 words in English
The top few words:
- The
- Be
- Is
- Was
- Were
- To
- Of
- And
- With
- I
- You
- Have
- In this list there aren't any Nouns and there are very few verbs- mainly things known as grammatical words.
- They don't often say "And" in speech it is usually shortened to "nd", "mm", "nm"
- List containing words mostly of Anglo-Saxon origin- This is surprising as most of our language isn't 'Old-English' which sill uses derives from other languages.
- No "she's"- in built sexism of language?
- Men stuck in facts etc but women talk more about other people - tends to be a difference.
- Grammatical words help explore the relationship between language
- Grammatical lexis can be used to pause and think without others interrupting in spoken language -"Holding the conversational floor with that word"
- People can use words like 'And' to interrupt as well
- 'And' did not originate for the purpose of conjoining points in speech
- Will is easier to understand- To Will something to happen e.g I will do something- almost carries both meanings
- Most frequent Noun used is: Time, followed by year.
- Human activity and organizing ourselves
- Verbs in the list: Be, Have, Do- this is at the top because of multiple functions
- Then 'Say'
- 50~% of the English language is Nouns
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