In every cultivated language there are two great classes of words which, taken together, comprises the whole vocabulary. First, there are those words
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which we become acquainted in daily conversation, which we learn, that is to say, from the
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of our own family and from our familiar associates, and which we should know and use
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we could not read or write. They concern the common things of life, and are the stock in trade of all who
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the language. Such words may be called "popular", since they belong to the people at large and are not the exclusive possession of a limited class.
On the other hand, ore" language comprises a multitude of words which are comparatively
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used in ordinary conversation. Their meanings are known to every educated person, but there is little
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to use them at home or in the market place. Our first acquaintance with them comes not from our mother" s
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or from the talk of our school mates,
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from books that we read, lectures that we attend, or the more formal conversation of highly educated speakers who are discussing some particular
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in style appropriately elevated above the habitual extent of everyday life. Such words are called "learned", and the
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between them and the "popular" words is of great importance to a right understanding of linguistic process.