"I live in São Paulo, where Spanish and Portuguese dance through daily life. At the playground I hear abuela, cariño, alegría. On flights to Santiago to see family, I listen to entire conversations that feel warm even before I catch the meaning. So when I saw a headline claiming Spanish is the "happiest language," I was curious. Is this a feel-good internet fact, or did researchers actually measure it with rigor?"
"Back in 2015, a team of mathematicians and computational social scientists led by Peter Sheridan Dodds set out to test an old idea in linguistics called the Pollyanna hypothesis-the notion that human language tilts positive. To move beyond theory, the team compiled very large lists of the most frequently used words in each of ten widely spoken languages, then asked native speakers to rate how positive or negative each word felt on a 1-9 scale."
Life in São Paulo exposes many to Spanish and Portuguese daily, with Spanish often perceived as warm and affectionate. In 2015 mathematicians and computational social scientists tested the Pollyanna hypothesis by compiling large lists of the most frequently used words in ten widely spoken languages and asking native speakers to rate each word’s positive–negative feeling on a 1–9 scale. Millions of judgments from books, news, songs, film subtitles, and social posts produced comparable emotional-valence snapshots. Spanish frequently ranked at or near the top by average positivity. The measurements focused on isolated words, not grammar, intonation, sarcasm, or conversational context.
Read at Silicon Canals
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