Global Language Monitor
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 Word of the Year,[1] political analysis,[2][3] college and university rankings,[4] High Tech buzzwords,[5][6] and media analytics.[7]
Media Analytics | |
Industry | High Technology |
Founded | 1999 |
Founder | Paul JJ Payack |
Headquarters | , |
Products | Olympics and World Cup Brand and Ambush Marketing Analyses, annual Top Fashion Capitals, TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Guide, Annual Top Word of the Year (#WOTY) for International and Global English), Top Business Buzzwords, Top Political Buzzwords, Top Politically(in)Correct Words |
Website | www |
History
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2003 by Paul J.J. Payack, the GLM describes its role as "a media analytics company that documents, analyzes and tracks cultural trends in language the world over, with a particular emphasis upon International and Global English". GLM's main services include various products based on the Narrative Tracker technologies for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 275,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources as they emerge.[8] In April 2008, GLM moved its headquarters from San Diego to Austin.[9]
In July 2020, GLM announced that 'Covid' was the Top Word of 2020 for Global or International English.
Covid is the commonly used shorthand for the shorthand for Covid-19. Covid-19 is the official name of the virus caused by the SARS CoV-2 virus, so named in WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD). ‘Covid’ has received the highest number of citations ever recorded in our global survey. In fact, ‘covid’ has outranked all previous Words of the Year in the 21st century by a factor of 100.
Covid-19 is ranked No. 2. The Top Ten Words of the Year (#WOTY) for 2020 include Covid, Covid-19, Coronavirus, Corona, Face mask, Progress, Truth, Social Distancing, Trade War, and Sustainability. Typically, the Global Language Monitor ranks words, phrases, and names on three separate lists, and the lists are limited to twenty items. For this effort, GLM has combined the lists and extended the word count to fifty items.
Other recently released word-lists include:
- The Top Words of the First Fifteen Years of the 21st Century (and what they portend).[10]
- The Top Words of 2115 (One hundred Years Hence)[11]
- The AD 2076 Map of the Re-federalised United States (including VanCity and Scot's Land).[12]
Top Words of 2020 (the Plague Year)
{{No col break|
2020
Top Words of Previous Years
2017
- Truth
- Narrative
- Opioids
- Post-Truth
- Woke
- Brexit
- Blessee
- Non-binary
- Anthropocene
- Latinx
- Ransomware
- Tradie
- Flip
2016
- A Meme and not a word of Omran Daqneesh (Omran Daqneesh in Aleppo)
- Refugee
- Bigly
- Brexit
- Zika
- Opioids
- Microaggression
- Climate Changing
- Post-truth
- Anthropocene
2015
2014
- Emoji, the Heart emoji
2012
- Apocalypse/Armageddon
- deficit
- Olympiad
- Bak'tun
- meme
- MOOC
- The Cloud
- omnishambles
- Frankenstorm
- obesogenic
- hen
- derecho
- hashtag
- drones
- fracking
- phobes
- superfood
- The 47
- YOLO
- adorkable
2011
- occupy
- fracking
- drone
- Non-veg
- Kummerspeck
- Haboob
- 3Q
- Trustafarians
- (The Other) 99
2009
- Obama-
- H1N1
- stimulus
- vampire
- 2.0
- deficit
- hadron
- healthcare
- transparency
- outrage
- bonus
- unemployed
- foreclosure
- cartel
- Twenty-ten
(spoken only) - Obamacare
Phrases
2017
- Weinstein Effect #MeToo
2015
- Migrant Crisis
2014
- Hands Up, No Shoot
2013
- Toxic Politics
- Federal Shutdown
- Global warming/climate change
- Federal Deficit
- Tread Lightly
- Boston strong
- Marathon Bombing
- Chemical Weapons
- All-time High
- Rogue nukes
- Near-Earth Asteroid
- Arab Spring
- Solar Maximum
- big data
- Ethical/Sustainable Fashion
2012
- Gangnam Style
- Global warming/climate change
- Fiscal cliff
- The Deficit
- God particle
- Rogue nukes
- Near-Earth Asteroid
- Binders full of women
- Arab Spring
- solar max
- big data
- ethical/sustainable fashion
- toxic politics
- Citius, Altius, Fortius
- War on Women
2011
- Arab Spring
- Royal Wedding
- Anger and rage
- Climate change
- The Great Recession
- Tahrir Square
- Linear no-threshold
- Bunga bunga
- ‘How’s that working out for you?’
- "Make no mistake about it!"
- Don’t Touch My Junk
2010
2009
- King of Pop
- Obamamania
- Climate change
- swine flu
- Too Large to Fail
- cloud computing
- public option
- Jai Ho!
- Mayan calendar
- God particle
Names
2015
2014
2013
- Pope Francis
- ObamaCare
- NSA
- Edward Snowden
- Kate Middleton
- IRS
- Ted Cruz
- Chris Christie
- Marathon Bombers
- Malala Yousafzai
- Xi Jinping
- Barack Obama
- Hassan Rouhani
- Sochi Olympics
- Angela Merkel
2012
- Newtown and Malala Yousafzai
(tie) - Xi Jinping
- Kate Middleton
- Barack Obama
- Mitt Romney
- London Olympics
- Higgs boson
- Europe
(EU/Eurogeddon) - Felix Baumgartner
- Senkaku Islands
- John Roberts
- Bibi
(Benjamin Netanyahu) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
- Christopher Stevens
2011
- Steve Jobs
- Osama bin-Laden & Seal Team 6
- Fukushima
- Mohamed Bouazizi
- Hu Jintao
- Kate Middleton
- Muammar Gaddafi
- Barack Obama
- PIIGS
- Yaroslavl Lokomotiv
Previous Words, Phrases & Names of the Year
- 2014
- Top Words: No. 1 The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love), No. 2 Hashtag, No. 3 Vape
- Top Phrases: No. 1 Hands Up, Don’t Shoot; No. 2 Cosmic Inflation, No. 3 Global Warming
- Top Names: No. 1 Ebola, No. 2 Pope Francis, No. 3 World War I
- 2013
- Top Words: No. 1 ‘404’, No.2 Fail, No.3 Hashtag
- Top Phrases: No. 1 Toxic Politics, No. 2 Federal Shutdown, No.3 Global Warming/Climate Change
- Top Names: No. 1. Pope Francis, No. 2 ObamaCare, No.3 NSA
- 2012
- Top Words: No. 1 ApocalypseArmageddon, No.2 Deficit, No. 3 Olympiad
- Top Phrases: No. 1 Gangnam Style, No. 2 Climate Change/Global Warming, No. 3 Fiscal Cliff
- Top Names: No. 1 Newtown and Malala Yousafzai, No. 3 Xi Jinping
- 2011
- Top Words: No. 1 Occupy, No.2 Fracking, No.3 Drone
- Top Phrases: No. 1 Arab Spring, No. 2 Royal Wedding, No.3 Anger and Rage
- Top Names: No. 1 Steve Jobs, No. 2 Osama bin-laden and Seal Team Six, No.3 Fukushim
- 2010
- Top Words: No. 1 Occupy, No.2 Fracking, No.3 Drone
- Top Phrases: No. 1 Anger and Rage, No. 2 Climate Change, No. 3 The Great Recession
- Top Names: No. 1 Hu Jintao, paramount leader of China, No. 2 iPad, No. 3 Barack Obama
- 2009
- Top Words: No. 1: Twitter, No. 2: Obama, No. 3: H1N1
- Top Phrases: No. 1: King of Pop, No. 2: Obama-mania, No. 3: Climate Change
- Top Names: No. 1: Obama, No. 2: Michael Jackson, No. 3: Mobama
- 2008
- Top Words: No. 1: Change, No. 2: Bailout, No. 3: Obama-mania
- Top Phrases: No. 1: Financial Tsunami, No. 2: Global Warming, No. 3: "Yes, We Can!"
- Top Names: No. 1: Barack Obama, No. 2: George W. Bush, No. 3: Michael Phelps
- 2007
- Top Words: No. 1 Hybrid (representing all things green), No. 2: Surge
- Top Phrase: Climate Change
- Top Name: Al Gore
- 2006
- Top Word: Sustainable
- Top Phrase: Stay the Course
- Top Name: Darfur
- 2005
- Top Words: No. 1, Refugee, No. 2: Tsunami, No. 3: Katrina
- Top Phrase: Outside the Mainstream
- Top Name: (acts of) God
- 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
- Top Word: Misunderestimate
- Top Phrase: Threat Fatigue
- Top Name: W (Dubya)
- 2001
- Top Word: Ground Zero
- Top Phrase: ‘Lets Roll’
- Top Name: The Heros
Counting English words
GLM announced the 1,000,000th English word on June 10, 2009.[13] This controversial exercise was widely covered in the global media.[14][15] The count itself was widely criticized by a number of prominent linguists, including Geoffrey Nunberg,[16] and Jesse Sheidlower[17] and Benjamin Zimmer,[18] on the grounds that since there is no generally accepted definition of a word, there can never be a definitive count.[17][18][19]
The finalists, which met the criteria of a minimum of 25,000 citations with the necessary breadth of geographic distribution and depth of citations, were:
1. Web 2.0. 2. Jai Ho! 3. N00b. 4. Slumdog. 5. Cloud computing. 6. Carbon Neutral. 7. Slow Food. 8. Octomom. 9. Greenwashing. 10. Sexting. 11. Shovel ready. 12. Defriend. 13. Chengguan. 14. Recessionista. 15. Zombie Banks.[20]
Critics noted that the target date had been changed a number of times from late in 2006 to early in 2009.[21][22][23][24][25][26] It was also criticized on grounds that a count is impossible because "word" is not a scientifically valid concept. Google addressed this situation by counting the words in the 15 million scanned texts in their corpus.[27] Global Language Monitor states the general criteria for inclusion on its site, maintaining that it is simply updating the established criteria for printed dictionaries beginning with the works of Samuel Johnson and Noah Webster.[28]
The New York Times quoted Paul JJ Payack as saying that the PQI is "an algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet in relation to frequency, context and appearance in global media. It is a weighted index that takes into account year-to-year increases and acceleration in the last several months".[29] In general terms, GLM describes its Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), used to run its analytics on global language trends and, as a weighted index, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and velocity, using frequency data on words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, and throughout the blogosphere, as well as in proprietary databases (Factiva, Lexis-Nexis, etc.). It can also create "signals" that can be used in a variety of applications.[30]
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.[31] GLM announced it to be an accepted word, once it met the group's published criteria: a minimum of 25,000 citations in the global media, as well as achieving the necessary 'breadth' and 'depth' of citations.[32]
Top US Colleges and University Rankings
The Global Language Monitor publishes other lists relating to the English language including: the TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Guide rankings of the top 425 U.S. colleges and universities according to their internet brand equity.[33]
Top Universities (January 2016): Rank/University/Previous Ranking
Top Universities Last
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1
- University of California at Los Angeles 6
- University of California, Berkeley 3
- University of California, Davis 7
- University of California, San Diego 12
- University of Chicago 4
- University of Texas, Austin 5
- Harvard University 2
- University of Washington 13
- University of Southern California 27
- Stanford University 8
- University of Wisconsin, Madison 15
- Yale University 21
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 16
- University of California, Irvine 37
- University of Virginia 19
- University of California, Santa Barbara 36
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 20
- University of Minnesota 22
- Ohio State University, Columbus 28
- Columbia University 14
- Princeton University 17
- University of Pennsylvania 11
- Duke University 61
- University of California, Santa Cruz 84
- New York University 9
- Emory University 33
- Michigan State University 24
- Cornell University 23
- Johns Hopkins University 30
- Northwestern University 10
- University of Florida 67
- Florida State 48
- University of Missouri, Columbia 51
- Virginia Tech 65
- University of Arizona 77
- University of Iowa 44
- Georgia Institute of Technology 26
- Washington University in St. Louis 25
- Indiana University, Bloomington 32
- University of Miami 46
- Washington State University 79
- University of Pittsburgh 45
- University of San Diego 149
- University of Oregon 49
- American University 58
- University of Phoenix 98
- Purdue University 31
- Iowa State University 47
- University of Georgia 43
- University of Tennessee 90
Top 50 US Colleges by TrendTopper MediaBuzz 2016
Rank/College/Previous Ranking
- Wesleyan University 54
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago 27
- College of the Holy Cross 58
- Williams College 6
- University of Richmond 2
- United States Military Academy 1
- Smith College 47
- United States Naval Academy 20
- Middlebury College 7
- Pratt Institute 10
- Wellesley College 4
- University of the Arts, PA 69
- Berklee College of Music 72
- Babson College 9
- Oberlin College 19
- Rhode Island School of Design 22
- Bucknell University 11
- Vassar College 8
- Barnard College 21
- Colgate University 14
- Bowdoin College 15
- Pomona College 3
- Davidson College 25
- Bennington College 96
- Lafayette College 13
- Swarthmore College 16
- United States Air Force Academy 43
- Colby College 46
- Mount Holyoke College 44
- Bard College 18
- Amherst College 4
- Fashion Institute of Technology 64
- Morehouse College 35
- Carleton College 36
- Occidental College 17
- Furman University 66
- Bryn Mawr College 31
- The Juilliard School 30
- Reed College 24
- Bates College 48
- Washington and Lee University 38
- Kenyon College 40
- Drew University 45
- Dickinson College 23
- Skidmore College 39
- Colorado College 89
- Trinity College, CT 33
- DePauw University 49
- Gettysburg College 32
- Haverford College 50
Top US Colleges by Category
- The 222 Top US Universities 1. MIT, 2. UCLA, 3. Berkeley
- The 199 Top US Colleges 1. Wesleyan (CT), 2. SAIC, 3. Holy Cross
- The Top US Private Universities 1. Chicago, 2. Harvard, 3. Stanford
- The Top US Public Universities 1. UCLA, 2. Berkeley, 3. UC Davis
- The Top US Private Colleges 1. Wesleyan (CT), 2. SAIC, 3. Holy Cross
- The Top US Public Colleges 1. West Point, 2. Annapolis, 3. Air Force
- The Top Engineering Universities 1. MIT, 2. Virginia Tech, 3. Georgia Tech
- The Top Engineering Colleges 1. Harvey Mudd, 2. MSOE, 3. SD School of Mines
- The Top Catholic Universities 1. U San Diego, 2. Boston College, 3. Notre Dame.
- The Top Catholic Colleges 1. Holy Cross, 2. Siena College, 3. Willamette
- Top Denomination-related Colleges 1. St Olaf, 2. High Point, 3. Muhlenberg
- Top Military and Service Academies 1. West Point, 2. Annapolis, 3. Air Force
- Top Art, Design, and Music Schools 1. School of the Art Institute AIC, 2. Pratt Institute, 3. School of the Arts, PA
- Top Women’s Colleges 1. Smith, 2. Wellesley, 3. Barnard
- Top Historically Black Colleges and Universities 1. Morehouse, 2. Spelman, 3.Rhodes
References
- Spillcam, vuvuzela are top words of 2010
- Kristof, Nicholas (2008-10-17). "Obama the Intellectual". Kristof.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- Nicholas D. Kristof: Obama and the war on brains
- ANITA B. HOFSCHNEIDER Contributing Writer. "Media Fixates on Harvard". Thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- "Bamboozled By Buzzwords". Search.japantimes.co.jp. 2005-04-24. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- "10 Most Confusing High Tech Buzzwords". Networkworld.com. 24 March 2005. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- Michael Jackson's Death Second Biggest Story of the Century Archived July 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- "Global Language Monitor". The Times. London: Languagemonitor.com. 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- / Finally, California sends a business we can support
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- John D. Sutter CNN (2009-06-10). "English gets millionth word on Wednesday, site says". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- Winchester, Simon (2009-06-06). "1,000,000 Words!". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
- Millionth English word' declared'
- Enumerating English, Geoffrey Nunberg, NPR
- Word Count, Jesse Sheidlower, Slate, April 10, 2006
- "Language Log » The "million word" hoax rolls along". Languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- Enumerating English,
- ‘One millionth English word’ is ‘Web 2.0’ Archived 2009-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 12, 2009
- Harlow, John (2006-02-05). "Chinglish – it's a word in a million". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
According to Payack, the one millionth word is likely to be formed this summer
- Macintyre, Ben (2006-08-11). "We're all speaking Geek". The Times. London. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
According to Paul Payack, who runs the Global Language Monitor, there are currently 988,974 words in the English language, with thousands more emerging every month. By his calculation, English will adopt its one millionth word in late November.
- "From Babel to Babble . . . Everyone is Speaking English". Kensington books. Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
in the spring of 2007, the English word count surpassed a million—over ten times the number available in French. At the crest of this linguistic tsunami surfs Paul J.J. Payack, aka the WordMan. As president of the Global Language Monitor
-
""A Million Words and Counting" How Global English Is Rewriting the World". Market Wire. May 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
according to author Paul J.J. Payack, the founding president of the Global Language Monitor ( www.LanguageMonitor.com ), English will adopt its millionth word in 2008
- Walker, Ruth (2009-01-02). "Save the date: English nears a milestone". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
It's April 29, 2009 – plus or minus a few days. That is when the English language is expected to acquire its millionth word. This prediction comes from Global Language Monitor, an organization in Austin, Texas
- "English gets millionth word on Wednesday, site says", CNN
- , Discover
- "GLM Criteria". Languagemonitor.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- The Power of Words
- The Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), GLM website
- English language is Barack 'Obamafied', Catherine Elsworth, Los Angeles, Telegraph.co.uk, 26 Feb 2008
- "PQI". Languagemonitor.com. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- "Trendtopper MediaBuzz 2016 University Rankings". Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2014-07-06.
- The Morning File: To find the Word of the Year, follow the money, Gary Rottstein, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 12, 2009