How many words do you think an average person knows? Everyone remembers the famous passage from the immortal work of E. Petrov and I. Ilf “The Twelve Chairs” on comparing the vocabulary of Shakespeare and Ellochka the Ogre. The same quote can be cited as a confirmation of the hypothesis that the lexicon of a person depends on what this person is. For example, the vocabulary of an uneducated person or a small child will amount to several hundred; literate - several thousand.
And such geniuses as Pushkin or Shakespeare and up to fifteen thousand typed. By the way, at the expense of the latter should be clarified. The four-volume Dictionary of the Language of Pushkin has 21,191 words. Scientists have counted just such a number of words used in all letters and works of the famous Russian poet. The vocabulary of the great English playwright totals a little less - about fifteen thousand words. But according to some reports, there are about eighteen thousand of them. In relation to ordinary people, the picture looks a little different. But first, let's understand what a lexicon is. We also define the concepts of a passive and active dictionary. So...
What is a lexicon?
From the ancient Greek literal translation means “word”, “speech revolution”. The exact definition of what a lexicon is: the combination of words of a particular language, a part of words or a language that a particular person or a certain group of people speaks. Vocabulary is the central part of the language that names, forms, and conveys knowledge about any phenomena or objects. In other words, it is a language section that studies words, pronunciation, speech composition, etc.
Passive and active dictionary
When it comes to a certain set of words that a person uses daily in his speech, which he uses to express his feelings and thoughts, this implies an active vocabulary. The usability and combinatorics of such words can be varied. But this is still an “instrument” of thoughts, feelings, actions. In the case when a person does not use certain words, but knows their meaning (often very approximate), recognizes them in a readable text, this means a passive vocabulary. Passive vocabulary includes words of special use: neologisms, archaisms, borrowed words, many dialectisms and the like.
The number of words in the vocabulary
It should be noted, returning to the question, what is the lexicon, that the active and passive dictionaries of each person are individual. It depends on age, profession, general cultural level, personal qualities, tastes and even the place of residence of a person. According to statistics, the active vocabulary of an adult with higher education is seven to nine thousand words. Passive - twenty-twenty-four thousand. Although in everyday communication we manage with only one or two thousand words. They say that the possibilities of human memory are almost endless. Therefore, you can safely increase your vocabulary and learn foreign words, thereby enriching the Russian vocabulary.