The Leipzig–Jakarta list is a 100-word list of words used by linguists to test the degree of chronological separation of languages by comparing words that are resistant to borrowing. The Leipzig–Jakarta list became available in 2009. In the 1950s, the linguist Morris Swadesh published a list of 200 words called the Swadesh list, allegedly the 200 lexical concepts found in all languages that were least likely to be borrowed from other languages. Swadesh later whittled his list down to 100 items. The Swadesh list, however, was based mainly on intuition, according to Martin Haspelmath and Uri Tadmor. The Loanword Typology Project, with the World Loanword Database, published by the Max Planck Digital Library, was established to rectify this problem. Experts on 41 languages from across the world were given a uniform vocabulary list and asked to provide the words for each item in the language on which they were an expert, as well as information on how strong the evidence that each word was borrowed was. The 100 concepts that were found in most languages and were most resistant to borrowing formed the Leipzig–Jakarta list. Only 62 items on the Leipzig–Jakarta list and on the 100-word Swadesh list overlap, hence a 38% difference between the two lists. 25% of the words in the Leipzig–Jakarta list are body parts: mouth, eye, leg/foot, navel, liver, knee, etc. Six animal words appear on the list: fish, bird, dog, louse, ant and fly – animals found everywhere humans can be found. The items house, name, rope and to tie are products of human culture, but are probably found in all present-day human societies. Haspelmath and Tadmor drew the conclusion that "rope is the most basic of humantools and tying is the most basic technology".
The list
Alphabetical
ant
arm/hand
ash
back
big
bird
to bite
bitter
black
blood
to blow
bone
breast
to burn
to carry
child
to come
to crush/to grind
to cry/to weep
to do/to make
dog
to drink
ear
to eat
egg
eye
to fall
far
fire
fish
flesh/meat
fly
to give
to go
good
hair
hard
he/she/it/him/her
to hear
heavy
to hide
to hit/to beat
horn
house
I/me
in
knee
to know
to laugh
leaf
leg/foot
liver
long
louse
mouth
name
navel
neck
new
night
nose
not
old
one
rain
red
root
rope
to run
salt
sand
to say
to see
shade/shadow
skin/hide
small
smoke
soil
to stand
star
stone/rock
to suck
sweet
tail
to take
thick
thigh
this
to tie
tongue
tooth
water
what?
who?
wide
wind
wing
wood
yesterday
you
Ranked
Below are lexical items in the Leipzig–Jakarta list as ranked by semantic stability, i.e. words least likely to be replaced by other words as a language evolves.
1. fire
2. nose
3. to go
4. water
5. mouth
6. tongue
7. blood
7. bone
9. 2SG pronoun
9. root
11. to come
12. breast
13. rain
14. 1SG pronoun
15. name
15. louse
17. wing
18. flesh/meat
19. arm/hand
20. fly
20. night
22. ear
23. neck
23. far
25. to do/make
26. house
27. stone/rock
28. bitter
28. to say
28. tooth
31. hair
32. big
32. one
34. who?
34. 3SG pronoun
36. to hit/beat
37. leg/foot
38. horn
38. this
38. fish
41. yesterday
42. to drink
42. black
42. navel
45. to stand
46. to bite
46. back
48. wind
49. smoke
50. what?
51. child
52. egg
53. to give
53. new
53. to burn
56. not
56. good
58. to know
59. knee
59. sand
61. to laugh
61. to hear
63. soil
64. leaf
64. red
66. liver
67. to hide
67. skin/hide
67. to suck
70. to carry
71. ant
71. heavy
71. to take
74. old
75. to eat
76. thigh
76. thick
78. long
79. to blow
80. wood
81. to run
81. to fall
83. eye
84. ash
84. tail
84. dog
87. to cry/weep
88. to tie
89. to see
89. sweet
91. rope
91. shade/shadow
91. bird
91. salt
91. small
96. wide
97. star
97. in
99. hard
100. to crush/grind
Differences with the Swadesh list
Items on the Leipzig-Jakarta list but not on the 100-word Swadesh list:
ant
back
bitter
to blow
to carry
child
to crush/grind
to cry/weep
to do/make
to fall
far
fly
to go
hard
3SG pronoun
heavy
to hide
house
in
to laugh
navel
old
rope
to run
salt
shade/shadow
to hit/beat
to suck
sweet
to take
thick
thigh
to tie
wide
wind
wing
wood
yesterday
Items on the 100-word Swadesh list but not on the Leipzig-Jakarta list:
