“Average number of words in the written vocabulary of a 6- to 14-year-old American child in 1945: 25,000 ”
“Average number of words in the written vocabulary of a 6- to 14-year-old American child in 1945: 25,000 “Average number today: 10,000 ”
“Average number of words in the written vocabulary of a 6- to 14-year-old American child in 1945: 25,000 “Average number today: 10,000 ” So reported Harper’s in August 1990. 1 The validity of this comparison has been called into question as being one of not apples to apples, but rutabegas to rutabegas, 2 yet our curiosity about the matter remains: How has our vocabulary changed over time? 1 Index, Harper’s , August 1990, http://is.gd/iWaF 2 “Does the average American student have less vocabulary today than in days gone by?” Cecil Adams, The Straight Dope, September 7 , 2007 , http://is.gd/iWbZ
My project is to compare the vocabularies of a collection of English-language novels published between the late ninteenth century and the present day, in order to measure the overlap between the those vocabularies, as well as to identify specific words that are exclusive to one group or another. Sample visualization from Book Scraper Sample visualization from Wordnik of the word “vanity” http://www.wordnik.com/ http://labs.timesonline.co.uk/bookscraper/
Sort by author |title|year • Advancedcomparison Allen, James Bacheller, Bacheller, Bova, Ben Brust, Steven Bryan, Chestnutt, Churchill, de Lint, Doctorow, Doctorow, Doctorow, Lane Irving Irving The Sam Gunn My Own Kind Kathleen Charles W Winston Charles Cory Cory Cory The Reign of D’Ri and I Eben Holden Omnibus of Freedom The Serpent The House Richard Carvel Spiritwalk Down and Out Eastern Stan- Someone Law and the Rose Behind the in the Magic dard Tribe Comes to Cedars Kingdom Town Some- one Leaves Town Drag books here Drag books here to compare them to compare them
Sort by author |title|year • Advancedcomparison Bova, Ben Brust, Steven Bryan, de Lint, Dorfman, Ariel Flint, Eric Flint, Eric Flint, Eric Gifford, Barry Guon, Ellen Horne, Marc Stross, Sam Gunn My Own Kind Kathleen Charles Mascara 1632 1633 1812: The Wyoming Bedlam Boyz Tokyo Zero Charles Omnibus, The of Freedom The Serpent Spiritwalk Rivers of War Accelerando and the Rose Doctorow, Cory Doctorow, Cory Doctorow, Cory Duberman, Allen, James Bacheller, Irving Bacheller, Irving Chestnutt, Down and Out Eastern Stan- Someone D’Ri and I Eben Holden Martin Lane Charles W in the Magic dard Tribe Comes to Haymarket The Reign of The House Kingdom Town Someone Law Behind the Leaves Town Cedars Franco, Jorge Lackey, Mercedes Link, Kelly Mamatas, Nick Churchill, Dreiser, Theodore Ford, Paul Goss, Charles Rosario Tijeras Beyond World’s Stranger Things Move Under Sister Carrie Winston Leicester Frederic End Happen Ground Richard Carvel Janice Meredith The Redemp- tion of David Corson John Ringo Watts, Peter Grant, Robert Johnston, Mary Johnston, Mary Major, Charles A Hymn Before Behemoth Unleavened Audrey To Have and to Dorothy Vernon Battle Bread Hold of Haddon Hall Major, Charles Norris, Frank Tarkington, Booth Thompson, When Knight- The Octopus The Two Van- Maurice Total words: 885,656 • Unique: 37 ,542 • Only in this group: 13,780 Total words: 885,656 • Unique: 37 ,542 • Only in this group: 16,719
Sort by author |title|year • Advancedcomparison Bova, Ben Brust, Steven Bryan, de Lint, Doctorow, Dorfman, Ariel Duberman, Flint, Eric Flint, Eric Flint, Eric Franco, Jorge Gifford, Barry Sam Gunn My Own Kind Kathleen Charles Cory Mascara Martin 1632 1633 1812: The Rosario Tijeras Wyoming Omnibus, The of Freedom The Serpent Spiritwalk Eastern Stan- Haymarket Rivers of War and the Rose dard Tribe Doctorow, Cory Allen, James Bacheller, Irving Bacheller, Irving Chestnutt, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom D’Ri and I Eben Holden Lane Charles W The Reign of The House Law Behind the absentmindedly ac accreting accrued achingly acquisitive addled Cedars adrenaline adult adulthood adults adventureland afro agenda ahold airhead airline airlock airtyped aka alibi alibis allocate aluminum ambient ambivalent ambling animatronic animatronics annotations anonymity anthro anymore anytime app apparati arcane archived arguably armchairs armored asap assed assessed asshole asteroid atcha audio audiotrack authorization autohypnotic autopilot autosolder avatars awards Churchill, Dreiser, Theodore Ford, Paul Goss, Charles backdrop backside backstage backtraced backup backups badmouthing Sister Carrie Winston Leicester Frederic balancer barrelhouse basically basketball bathtub bazaar beater beatles Richard Carvel Janice Meredith The Redemp- beeline beers behaviors beijing belched bellycrawl bemused beneficently tion of David beta betcha bicep biceps bifocals bile billions biometrically bioscience Corson bitching bitchun bitchunry blackjack blaster bleary blindspot bloodstream boggled bolstering boo booga bopped bossing bot bothering bottleneck bounced bowsprits boxers brainwashing brandished breakdown breathtaking breezeway briefed broadband brrrr btw bubbly buddies buddy bugged bulges bullshit bumbled bummed bun bungalow bunking bunnies burgeoning bursitis busses buttocks bzzz cadge cadre cagey Grant, Robert Johnston, Mary Johnston, Mary Major, Charles callused calluses camaraderie cameras campground campsite canaveral Unleavened Audrey To Have and to Dorothy Vernon canopic captions carribean castmember castmembers castmemberspeak Bread Hold of Haddon Hall castmembery catchy catheterized cavemen ceded cheekbones cheeriest chem chemistry chend cheyenne chills chirpy chitchat chortled chrissakes chub chum chutzpah cicadas cig civvies clarity claustrophobic cleavage clipboard cliques clone clones closures clunk coaster cobbled cochlea cocking cocktail codes coding coed cogitated coitus collaborating collaborative collarbones collectible collective commitment commitments commune compulsive compulsively computer computers conceptual concordia concurred conditioning condo cons consciousnesses consensus Major, Charles Norris, Frank Tarkington, Booth Thompson, conservatives contacted contacts contrariwise conundra convocation When Knight- The Octopus The Two Van- Maurice Total words: 47 ,344 • Unique: 6,915 • Only in this book: 1,350 Total words: 885,656 • Unique: 37 ,542 • Only in this group: 30,749
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