Inuit, Women and Language

The Language Log deals decisively with the oft repeated myth that the Inuit (Eskimo) has tens or hundreds of words for “snow”. The fact is that they have roughly the same number of word roots as English for describing various types of snow, such as “blizzard” or “slush”. The difference with English is that their language permits the combination of these roots with other adjective and verb stems to form a single word. Thus the vocabulary of the Eskimo languages is pretty much limitless.

Another smack-down by Mark Liberman, contributor to the Language Log, concerns the myth that women talk more than men. In reality men and women talk about the same, but of course individual differences occur depending on context and personality. Additionally, there is no difference between the sexes with regard to the rate of talking – we’re all pretty much the same.

29. November 2006

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