Scientific analysis of language usage in literature over the last 200 years
suggests that words are competing – and now losing – in a battle to survive
Words are competing daily in an almost Darwinian struggle for survival,
according to new research from scientists in which they analysed more than 10
million words used over the last 200 years.
Drawing their material from Google's huge book-digitisation
project, the international team of academics tracked the usage of every word
recorded in English, Spanish and Hebrew over the 209-year period between 1800
and 2008. The scientists, who include Boston University's Joel Tenenbaum and IMT
Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies' Alexander Petersen, said their study shows
that "words are competing actors in a system of finite resources", and just as
financial firms battle for market share, so words compete to be used by writers
or speakers, and to then grab the attention of readers or listeners.
