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Global Language Monitor
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The Global Language Monitor (GLM) is an Austin, Texas-based company that collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. It is particularly known for its widely reported predictions of English reaching its millionth word.
ded in Silicon Valley in 2003, the GLM's roots date back to Dr. Robert Beard’s Web of Online Dictionaries, Bucknell University, 1994.
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Encyclopedia
The Global Language Monitor (GLM) is an Austin, Texas-based company that collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. It is particularly known for its widely reported predictions of English reaching its millionth word.
History
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2003, the GLM's roots date back to Dr. Robert Beard’s Web of Online Dictionaries, Bucknell University, 1994. This was reorganised in 1999 into yourDictionary.com, with Paul JJ Payack as founding president. Payack established GLM in 2003 to continue media analysis functions begun at YDC. The GLM describes its role as "expert analysis on language trends and their subsequent impact on politics, culture and business, including the PQ Index/Indicator, analysis of media coverage of major, worldwide events, the rise of Global English and its march to its 1,000,000th word, the Chinglish Phemomenon, Global yoofSpeak, and many others". In April 2008, GLM moved its headquarters from San Diego to Austin.
Counting English words
GLM attempts to count the number of words in the English Language, and has been widely cited over its prediction of the millionth English word, a theory expounded in Paul Payack's book on the same subject. This event was first predicted for the summer of 2006, then late November 2006, spring of 2007, 2008, then approximately 29 April 2009. However, the basis for the count is generally disputed by lexicographers and linguists such as Geoffrey Nunberg, Jesse Sheidlower and others on grounds that a count is impossible due to there being no clear-cut criteria for inclusion/exclusion nor any way of mechanically implementing such criteria, that there exists no way to delineate "the language" or determine its relation to the corpus of online material, that there is no way to mechanically distinguish "new words" from existing words not previously encountered in a corpus or typographical errors. Global Language Monitor states general criteria for inclusion on its site but does not indicate how filtering is or could be implemented, since the underlying PQI algorithm is proprietary.
In general terms, GLM describes its Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), used to run its analytics on global language trends, as a weighted index, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and velocity, using frequency data from words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the blogosphere, as well as accessing proprietary databases (Factiva, Lexis-Nexis, etc.). It can also create "signals" that can be used in a variety of applications.
Obama an English language word
On 20 February 2008 GLM announced that the latest word to enter the English language was obama, derived from Barack Obama, in its many variations. GLM described Obama- as a "root" for words including obamanomics, obamican, obamamentum, obamacize, obamarama, obamaNation, Obamafy, obamamania and obamacam. GLM did not indicate how it was possible to monitor all English discourse to determine what the "latest word to enter the English language was," or for that matter, what "entering the English language" entailed.
High tech terms
On 14 October 2007 GLM released a list of the most confusing high tech terms and buzzwords. The words included:
iPOD,
flash,
cookie,
nano and
kernel,
followed by
megahertz,
cell
(as in
cell phone),
plasma,
de-duplication
and
Blu-Ray.
Other terms being tracked included
terabyte,
memory,
core,
and head crash.
The most confusing acronym was found to be SOA, for service-oriented architecture, an acronym which IBM published a book about.
The study was released on the 13th anniversary of the cookie, the invention that made the World Wide Web practical for widespread surfing, communication, and e-commerce.
Top word of the year
Top word of 2007
On 13 December 2007 GLM released its annual Word of the Year (WOTY) lists including top phrases and top names. 'Hybrid' was named as the top WOTY, 'Climate Change' was named the top phrase, and 'Al Gore' the top name. GLM explained, The words were culled from throughout the English-speaking world that GLM says currently numbers some 1.35 billion speakers and includes such diverse cultures as China, the Philippines, and India. GLM did not provide any source or evidence for that estimate, which is wildly out of sync with estimates given, e.g., by the linguist David Crystal.
2007 top ten words
The top ten words for 2007 as stated by GLM are:
- Hybrid, referring to hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Chosen "to represent all things green from biodiesel to wearing clothes made of soy, to global warming to living with a zero-carbon footprint."
- Surge, referring to political and military strategy of the Bush administration to win the Iraq war.
- Bubble, referring to the U.S. housing bubble and related credit crunch.
- Smirting, a portmanteau of 'smoking' and 'flirting' often while being banished outside a building for smoking cigarettes.
- Pb, referring to the symbol lead, the "culprit in innumerable toy recalls this year".
- Ideating, forming and relating ideas.
- O-3 or omega-3 fatty acids, the "healthy fatty acid.
- Cleavage, referring to a woman's breasts, which the GLM states is "a touchy campaign subject" in the US elections.
- Amigoization, referring to the "increasing Hispanic influence in California, the Southwest and into the Heartland.
- Bluetooth, referring to technology to connect electronic devices by radio waves.
2007 top ten phrases
- Climate change -- The warming of the Earth’s atmosphere;
- Ho-Ho-Ho -- Santa’s trademark phrase. In Australia officials are suggesting ‘Ha-Ha-Ha’ because the former may scandalize the children;
- All-time low -- The phrase apparently grafted next to the president’s name in the media;
- Theory of Everything -- Garrett Lisi’s especially simple theory of the Universe that unites all forces and gravity in one elegant structure;
- Planetary Peril -- Al Gore’s trademark phrase to describe the Earth’s current condition;
- Wristband Wagon -- Wearing your heart on your … wrist. Pink against breast cancer, red against third-world poverty, ‘camouflage’ (or yellow as in yellow ribbon) to support the troops;
- No Noising -- Chinese/English hybrid (Chinglish) for ‘quiet please!’;
- Fade to black -- From the Soprano’s series finale to the Hollywood writers’ strike;
- Fossil Fuels -- Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas (anything hydrocarbon-based);
- Fashion tribe -- Persons who follow a particular fashion with a tribe-like mindset: Examples include EMO, Hip-hop or Goth.
2007 top ten names
- Al Gore -- Conveniently, doesn’t need the presidency to top the list;
- The Decider -- George W. Bush, still president after all these years;
- Bono -- The U2 front man stands out in front on Third World debt relief;
- Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton -- Barack Obama’s surname now qualifies as a buzzword; quite unusual, though Hil comes close;
- Hugo Chavez -- The Gadfly of Latin America;
- Vladimir Putin -- The supreme leader (President, Prime Minister, whatever) of the Russian Federation;
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- Iranian President suggests moving Israel to Europe;
- Pope Benedict XVI -- continues to engage Muslim leadership in thoughtful discussions;
- David Beckham and Posh Spice -- Yet another ‘new’ type of Hollywood power couple;
- Fidel Castro -- The head one of the few remaining Communist states lives yet another year.
Top ten words from 2000 to 2008
2008: Top Word: Change; Top Phrase: Financial Tsunami; Top Name: Barack Obama.
2007: Hybrid (representing all things green} No 2. Surge;
2006: Sustainable;
2005: Refugee vs. Evacuee, No 2. Tsunami, No. 3 Katrina;
2004: Top Word: Incivility (for inCivil War); Top Phrase: Red States/Blue States,
No. 2: Rush to War; Top Name: Dubya/Rove;
2003: Top Word: Embedded; Top Phrase: Shock and Awe;
No. 2: Rush to War; Top Name: Saddam Hussein; No. 2 Dubya.
2002: Misunderestimate; Top Phrase: Threat Fatigue; Top Name: W (Dubya).
2001: Top Word: Ground Zero; Top Phrase: 'Let's Roll'; Top Name: The Heroes.
2000: Top Word: Chad; Top Phrase: Dot.com; Top Name: W (Dubya).
Note: From 2007-2004, Global Language Monitor; from 2003 to 2000, GLM predecessor, yourDictionary.
Other lists
The Global Language Monitor publishes other lists relating to the English language including: rankings of U.S. colleges according to their presence in the media ; top fashion cities ranked by media exposure.; and 15 Top All-Time Bushisms.
External links
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