On the Vocabularies of Children under Two Years of Age

Abstract

Some time ago,* I made an examination of my own vocabulary, in order to see how many were at one's command in ordinary speaking and writing. I desired to do this, as I was sure that the ordinary statement that the vocabulary of an intelligent adult is about ten thousand words was quite inaccurate. This I supposed to be the case because ten thousand technical is by no means a large vocabulary for a specialist in many branches of science. A chemist, a geologist, a botanist, a zoologist, has frequently command of many thousand mere names, which if added to the vocabulary which he possesses in commono witli unprofessional persons of his own rank in life, will bring the sum total of the at his command up to a very high figure. To avoid misunderstanding, I defined a word to be a symbol occurring in capital letters in WEBSTER'S Unabridged Dictionary, edition of 1852. By an approximate method I found tlat my own vocabulary was thirty-three thousand four hundred and fifty-six words, with a probable error of not more than one per cent. Allowing a probable error of even two per cent., my own vocabulary would then be comprised between the limits of thirty-four thousand one hundred and twenty-five and thirty-two thousand seven hundred and eighty seveii words. I am confident this is not too large, for the following reasons: 1. The method of obtaining this number, thougli necessarily approximate, is tolerably accurate, and the limits of error to fear are ample. 2. My own process was repeated, in part, by Mr. FARQUHAR of the Patent Office, independently of me, in the most careful manner, and with the result of finding a still larger vocabulary than my own.