HENA03885U English - Free topic: Is English larger than Danish?

Volume 2014/2015
Content

English is by far the most dominant language in the world, and most people believe it is also more rich in vocabulary than other languages. However, this has never been tested. And indeed, can it be proved?

In this course we will focus on the differences in vocabulary between English and Danish - the latter typically seen as a 'small' language. 

In order to determine whether English is in fact 'larger' than Danish, we will scrutinize dictionaries and text corpora, after having defined what constitutes a word - no small feat! 

Students are encouraged to include historical, language-political, cognitive, grammatical and philosophical aspects when analyzing the vocabulary of English vis-à-vis Danish - or any other modern language.

  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 176,75
  • Total
  • 204,75