HOW LONG DO WORDS LAST?

HOW LONG DO WORDS LAST? Lee Bryant sent me this article by David Brown in the Washington Post about the persistence of words. Researchers have taken the controversial position that they have identified 23 words that have survived for 15,000 years. The position is controversial because most historical linguists don’t think you can go that far back. In this article in the Guardian, Ian Sample says: “Most words have a 50% chance of being replaced by an unrelated term every 2,000-4,000 years.”