Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary is a concept that is frequently encountered in __.

Lists for historical comparison

Swadesh-50 list

Distinct "stability quotients" have been determined for each of the Swadesh-100 entries by Sergei Starostin. On this basis, George Starostin proposes establishing a shortened version of the list for surveying the genetical affiliation of languages. For reasons of practicality, he excludes also a number of relatively stable word roots that show other issues:

• the pronouns "this" and "that": the structure of demonstrative pronoun systems in the world's languages may vary, and short monosyllabic demonstrative roots are prone to accidental similarities
• 'liver', a word frequently unrecorded in superficial surveys
• 'fish', a concept frequently unknown in desert communities
• 'neck', "breast": prone to sound-symbolism and polysemy (versus "throat" and "chest")
• 'full', "stand", "give": prone to synonymy

These nine words are substituted with three body parts ('foot', 'horn', 'head'), two universal food items ('meat', 'egg'), two semantically better-defined verbs ('to kill', 'to hear') as well as 'black', 'night'.

Yakhontov list

A brief 35-word list developed by Sergei Yakhontov that was used by the Russian Nostratics school as a preliminary approximation of the stablest basic vocabulary, prior to the development of the Swadesh-50 list.

Comparison

Abbreviations:

• LJ: the Leipzig-Jakarta list
• Sw50, 100, 200: various versions of the Swadesh list
• Y: the Yakhontov list

Lexeme	Semantic area	LJ	Sw50	Sw100	Sw200	Y
we	pronoun		√
two	numeral		√			√
I	pronoun	√	√			√
eye	body part	√	√			√
thou	pronoun	√	√			√
who	pronoun	√	√			√
fire	substance	√	√			√
tongue	body part	√	√			√
stone (/rock)	substance	√	√			√
name	social	√	√			√
hand (/arm)	body part	√	√			√
what	pronoun	√	√			√
to die	verb		√			√
heart	body part		√
to drink	verb: action	√	√
dog	animal	√	√			√
louse	animal	√	√			√
moon	celestial		√			√
fingernail	body part		√
blood	tissue	√	√			√
one	numeral	√	√			√
tooth	body part	√	√			√
new	adjective	√	√			√
dry	adjective		√
to eat	verb: action	√	√
tail	body part	√	√			√
head hair	tissue	√	√
water	substance	√	√			√
nose	body part	√	√			√
not		√	√
mouth	body part	√	√
ear	body part	√	√			√
bird	animal	√	√
bone	tissue	√	√			√
sun	celestial		√			√
smoke	substance	√	√
tree			√
ashes	substance	√	√
rain		√	√
star	celestial	√	√
leaf		√	√
to kill	verb: action		√
foot (/leg)	body part	√	√
horn	body part	√	√			√
to hear	verb: perception	√	√
meat (food)	substance / tissue	√	√
egg		√	√			√
black	adjective	√	√
head	body part		√
night		√	√
fish	animal	√				√
full	adjective					√
to give	verb: action	√				√
to know	verb	√				√
salt	substance	√				√
this	pronoun	√				√
wind		√				√
year						√
ant	animal	√
back	body/spatial??	√
big	adjective	√
to bite	verb: action	√
bitter	adjective	√
to blow	verb	√
breast	body part	√
to burn (itr.)	verb	√
to carry	verb	√
child	social	√
to come	verb: motion	√
to crush/grind	verb: action	√
to cry/weep	verb	√
to do/make	verb	√
to fall	verb: motion	√
far	adjective	√
to fly	verb: motion	√
to go	verb: motion	√
good	adjective	√
hard	adjective	√
3PS	pronoun	√
heavy	adjective	√
to hide	verb: action	√
to hit/beat	verb: action	√
house		√
in	preposition	√
knee	body part	√
to laugh	verb	√
liver	body part	√
long	adjective	√
navel	body part	√
neck	body part	√
old	adjective	√
red	adjective	√
root		√
rope		√
to run	verb: motion	√
sand	substance	√
to say	verb	√
to see	verb: perception	√
shade/shadow		√
skin/hide	body part / tissue	√
small	adjective	√
soil	substance	√
to stand	verb	√
to suck	verb	√
sweet	adjective	√
to take	verb: action	√
thick	adjective	√
thigh	body part	√
to tie	verb: action	√
wide	adjective	√
wood	substance	√
yesterday		√