Is English a happy language?

I’ve read quite a few articles this month on English words having positive emotional significance with the analysis concluding that English is a positive language. Scientists compiled the 5,000 most frequently used words found in four sources : two decades of material from The New York Times, 18 months' worth from Twitter, manuscripts from Google Books produced between 1520 and 2008 and music lyrics from 1960 to 2007. 50 people then evaluated each word on a scale of 1 to 9, with 1 being least happy, 5 neutral, and 9 happiest. They found that the average score fell at 6, a full point shift toward ‘positivity’.

Let me start a bit differently here:

Being Hungarian, people often ask what language I think and dream in. The thinking question is not that difficult, it always depends on the environment I’m in. I can adapt to the specific person and/or country (assuming I speak that language); it’s sort of a reflex. The dream question is more complex; actually, it has no answer. I apparently just blurt out random words in different languages in my sleep (not in one go). Does that correlate with language or with the position of the moon? Let’s not get started on that one.

I actually prefer reading in English. Not because English is an ‘optimistic’ language. Well, optimistic in the way that words are a lot shorter and I just find it a lot easier and quicker to read in English rather than Hungarian or French. The sentences are not as elongated; in Hungary we tend to overcomplicate the easiest things and I can say the same for the French. A simple sentence in English would have to be a lot more tedious in a Hungarian text. That’s why one of the first things I learnt in English class was: “Eszter, do end that sentence at some stage!”. I probably still do it at times…

Hungary has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe. I am not suicidal, but maybe I am more positive than your average Hungarian who doesn’t struggle having to formulate extremely complicated sentences on a daily basis. Are they trying to say that English speakers (native or the ones who use it frequently) are more positive due to the words they use? Or do we need to have a look at the language as a whole? These words have ways they fit in sentences as well, and the sentence is what will deliver the entire message. Sure, a word can evoke emotional responses, but this depends on the person’s background as well.

This study on specific words using a sample of 50 people doesn’t say much to me to be honest. Then again, I do have a slight obsession with samples/research that have the capability to deliver real insight. I genuinely think that if the same study was to be done in different languages it would have the same response, assuming that we are looking at the same 5,000 words that they had used. We are all human beings therefore no matter what the language, the same words in different languages should evoke the same emotional response. Yet the results will always differ depending on the sample used. That full point shift towards positivity could easily be altered, in the case of English or any other language that is being examined.

I do accept their research in the sense that I understand that they chose the 5,000 most frequently used words from these four sources. However, only a fourth of these resources reflect conversational English, so it would be needed to specify what aspect of English we are trying to look at to come to any kind of conclusion. That is if we can even come to any kind of conclusion after such research. You can’t just throw them all together. Say we have a look at the 5,000 most used words in another country’s media: the top words will be different as will the sample, because the people, recorded sources and analysts will always differ as well. In any case, the bigger the amount of sources we are playing around with, the bigger the sample should be when we test our hypothesis. That is why I reject their claim of English being a positive language.

It would be great if English was such a positive language though. It would surely suggest that the people using it are a lot happier as well in their lives. Say a non-English speaker is having emotional problems: “Hey, go learn English! Totally boosts your mood”. Let us rely on the remaining alternative methods as well though, as I’m sure the 50 people who had to rate these 5,000 words will never be able to look at them in the same manner again… which may require some form of (language) therapy. On a serious note… it would be interesting to see what the outcome would be if they were to continue this research using people for whom English is not the mother tongue.

So to put all this together: I think in different languages, I speak in different languages and I write in different languages. Does English stick out in a positive way? Yes it does, positive as it is easy to play around it due to its simplicity, but I do not find it more positive emotionally than any other language. If there were to be a scale of emotions for the depth of sentences in different languages, that would create a whole different story.

Language is not just words; it’s how you use them.