User:Croquant/Archives/Swadesh lists/Swadesh list presentation

For further information, read the article: Swadesh list

The Swadesh word list, developed by the linguist Morris Swadesh, is used as a tool to study the evolution of languages. It contains a set of basic words which can be found in every language. Various versions have been created, in particular:

• a complete 207 words version, in which some of the words are not found in every environment (it contains for instance snake and snow)
• a reduced 100 words version.

This word list should not be considered as an elementary lexicon to communicate with speakers of a given language; for such a purpose, the numerous existing Wikivoyage lexicons are more useful. Its only objective is to give a rough idea of the language, by showing its lexical and, when possible, phonetics basis.