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Study opens book on English evolution

Maturing language A study of 500 years of the English language has confirmed that 'the', 'of' and 'and' are the most frequently printed words in the modern era.

The study, by Slovenian physicist Matjaz Perc, also found the top dozen phrases most-printed in books include "at the end of the", "as a result of the" or "on the part of the".

His study, which is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, is based on a digital analysis of some 5.2 million books dating from 1520 to 2008. It shows the language going through an erratic period heavily influenced by religion in the 16th and 17th centuries - a time when William Shakespeare is also claimed to have coined many words and phrases.

The printing press was invented in about 1440, spreading rapidly throughout Europe and then beyond.

"During the 16th and 17th centuries, the popularity (of words) was very fleeting," says Perc. "Top words in the year 1600, for example, are no longer top words in the year 1610."

From the 18th and 19th centuries, word rankings became increasingly stable.

"The words that are most common during the year 1950, for example, are also the most common even today," says Perc, who claimed his computer analysis covered about four per cent of all books published up to 2008.

Driven by curiosity about a phenomenon known as "preferential attachment", the physicist's analysis led him to compile extensive tables of English words and phrases.

They show the word "the" right at the top of the list throughout the centuries, followed by others like "and", "of", "to", "in" and "a" at varying rankings near the top.

Religion and state

In the 1500s and 1600s, however, "baptized", "hymns", "God", "Christ" and "pope" also featured prominently among the most-used words, as well as phrases like "baptized in the name of", or "God forbid it should be".

Oddly out of place in the number one spot in 1586: the phrase "A fine old English gentleman".

Phrases like "House of Commons" and words like "Queen" and "Duke" started climbing the list by the mid- to late 17th century.

Top phrases in the 1700s included "the Church of England", "the Law of Nature" and "the Orb of the Sun".

By the 1800s the pattern started looking more as it does today, with formulaic phrases like "at the same time" or "in the midst of" featuring most prominently.

In 1919, the year after World War I ended, the ninth most-published five-word phrase was "for extraordinary heroism in action".

Maturing language

Since 1968, Perc's tables show "the United States of America" consistently among the top 15 most-published phrases, up from the top 20-odd in the 1940s and 50s.

"It seems that the words and phrases we use for writing books have matured, which in turn invites the conclusion that the English language itself is matured over the years," says Perc.

"Today we know what to expect when opening up a book, much more so than we would have if opening a book in the 16th century.

"This of course does not pertain to the content of each book, which will hopefully always surprise us, but rather to the grammatical constructions and certain phrases that have endured the test of time and are today commonplace."