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BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



TABLE IV 



Fifty Commonest Words in Telephone Conversation 

 Compared with Written English 



The 21 words not common to both lists appear in capital letters. 



12 in all. None of these appears among the 50 commonest words of 

 written English. Three nouns, "day," "thing" and "morning," 

 appear in the conversational list, none in the other. Only one con- 

 junction is found in the conversational list, while five appear in the 

 list for written English. 



When the first 100 words in telephone conversation are compared 

 with the first 100 in written English two somewhat unexpected facts 

 emerge. In telephone conversation 14 out of the first 100 are words of 

 more than one syllable; in written English there are ten. Four two- 

 syllable words appear among the first 50 telephone words; the first 59 

 of written English are monosyllables. A more striking difference 

 concerns the origin of the words. Among the first 100 telephone words 

 there are 11 which are derived through old French from the Latin; in 

 written English there are only two from the Latin. Six of the 11 words 

 occur in the first 65 telephone words, while the first word of Latin 

 origin in written English is the 70th. The telephone words of Latin 

 origin are, in order of occurrence: "just," "very," "order," "minute," 



