60 TH E M I N D O F TH E B UYE R
Chica go A merican. F rom th e e di torial , n ew s
a n d fea t ure col umn s of si x p arall el i ssue s o f
t hese two pap e rs, app roxim a tely five th ou
san d wo rds w ere t ake n i n c on sec u tive orde r
—a n eq ual numbe r from each new sp ap e r— and
t ab ul at e d a cc o rding to th e numb e r o f syllabl e s
th ey contai ned.
Th e re sul ts a re sh own i n Tabl e I, i n term s
of th e p e rc enta ge o f words c on ta ining more
tha n two, th ree, e tc. , syll able s. The se fi gure s
S h ow th a t th e numbe r of w ords ove r two syll a
bl e s l ong i n th e P o st is great e r tha n th at in
th e A meric a n by seven ty p er c en t ; thi s ra ti o
h ol ds fo r all th e p olysyllabi c wo rd s.TAB LE I.
Showing percentage o f wo rds containing more than^2 ,^3 ,
4 and^5 syllables in Chicago E vening P o s t, Chicago A meri
can, Century and A merican magazines.
Over 2 Over^3 Over^4 Over^5
. 7
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(^00000000000)