4 ms·

Is there any scientific or objective way to measure how "expressive" a language is?

rimliu 7y ago
To provide just a glimpse of how expressive Lithuanian can be, just a some derivations from the verb valgyti (to eat): valgąs — present active participle valgęs — past active participle valgydavęs — frequentative past active participle valgysiąs — future active participle valgomas — present passive participle valgytas — past passive participle valgysimas — future passive participle valgant — adverbial present active participle valgius — adverbial past active participle valgydavus — adverbial frequentative past active participle valgysiant — adverbial future active participle valgydamas — special adverbial present active participle valgytinas — participle of necessity The approximate meanings: valgąs — 'the one who is eating' valgęs — 'the one who ate; has eaten; was eating' valgydavęs — 'the one who used to eat' valgysiąs — 'the one who will be eating' valgomas — 'something that is being eaten' valgytas — 'something that has been eaten' valgysimas — 'something which will be eaten' valgant — 'while eating' valgius — 'after having eaten' valgydavus — 'after having eaten repeatedly' valgysiant — 'having to eat' valgydamas — 'eating' valgytinas — 'something to be eaten' Taken from http://www.lituanus.org/1984_3/84_3_05.htm http://www.lituanus.org/1984_3/84_3_05.htm
- guiraldelli 7y ago
  All of those, which can be applied to prefixed verbs [1], such as the ones below derived from the verb "valgyti" (to eat) [2]: antsivalgyti - (with genitive) to eat one's fill (of); to fill up (on) apvalgyti - (with accusative) to eat (someone) out of house and home įvalgyti - to be able to eat up; to be able to consume išvalgyti - to eat up; to devour; to eat away pravalgyti - to spend (one's money) on food privalgyti - to eat one's fill suvalgyti - to eat up; to consume užvalgyti - to eat a snack [1]: http://www.lituanus.org/1991_4/91_4_06.htm http://www.lituanus.org/1991_4/91_4_06.htm [2]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/valgyti#Derived_terms https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/valgyti#Derived_terms
- umanwizard 7y ago
  But you gave English translations for all of those examples. So they don’t actually show that Lithuanian is more expressive than English.
  - rimliu 7y ago
    One word instead of four is quite expressive, I'd say.

To provide just a glimpse of how expressive Lithuanian can be, just a some derivations from the verb valgyti (to eat): valgąs — present active participle valgęs — past active participle valgydavęs — frequentative past active participle valgysiąs — future active participle valgomas — present passive participle valgytas — past passive participle valgysimas — future passive participle valgant — adverbial present active participle valgius — adverbial past active participle valgydavus — adverbial frequentative past active participle valgysiant — adverbial future active participle valgydamas — special adverbial present active participle valgytinas — participle of necessity The approximate meanings: valgąs — 'the one who is eating' valgęs — 'the one who ate; has eaten; was eating' valgydavęs — 'the one who used to eat' valgysiąs — 'the one who will be eating' valgomas — 'something that is being eaten' valgytas — 'something that has been eaten' valgysimas — 'something which will be eaten' valgant — 'while eating' valgius — 'after having eaten' valgydavus — 'after having eaten repeatedly' valgysiant — 'having to eat' valgydamas — 'eating' valgytinas — 'something to be eaten' Taken from http://www.lituanus.org/1984_3/84_3_05.htm http://www.lituanus.org/1984_3/84_3_05.htm

guiraldelli 7y ago
All of those, which can be applied to prefixed verbs [1], such as the ones below derived from the verb "valgyti" (to eat) [2]: antsivalgyti - (with genitive) to eat one's fill (of); to fill up (on) apvalgyti - (with accusative) to eat (someone) out of house and home įvalgyti - to be able to eat up; to be able to consume išvalgyti - to eat up; to devour; to eat away pravalgyti - to spend (one's money) on food privalgyti - to eat one's fill suvalgyti - to eat up; to consume užvalgyti - to eat a snack [1]: http://www.lituanus.org/1991_4/91_4_06.htm http://www.lituanus.org/1991_4/91_4_06.htm [2]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/valgyti#Derived_terms https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/valgyti#Derived_terms
umanwizard 7y ago
But you gave English translations for all of those examples. So they don’t actually show that Lithuanian is more expressive than English.
- rimliu 7y ago
  One word instead of four is quite expressive, I'd say.