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Most language experts agree that English has more words than almost any other language, although it's difficult to pin down how many words any particular language contains.
The Oxford English Dictionary has entries for roughly 600,000 words, but it also doesn't contain lots of commonly used words. So you could attempt to master English vocabulary and not have time to master anything else.
Most of us would agree that a big vocabulary is more of a byproduct of an avid learning process. If you read a lot, you'll know a lot of words. If you're thrust into situations that require you to debate, you'll learn to use more words.
But does a big vocabulary have any intrinsic value? That's one of the topics we'll debate on the show today as we explore the very notion of vocabulary.
You can join the conversation, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
