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We know that the size and content of words varies widely across languages; what can be said in a single word in some languages can be expressed only in a multi-word sentence in others. The word payugqetullrullinikiit, for example, used in a Central Alaskan Yup’ik (Eskimo) conversation, was translated into English as ‘they apparently used to bring food to her’. Some of the differences we find among languages in the content of words reflect differences in the ideas that are coded as basic concepts. The Yup’ik word above is based on the verb root payug- ‘to take food over to a friend, relative, or neighbor’. The root does not contain segments meaning ‘food’ or ‘relative’; it simply denotes a recognizable activity that constitutes a unitary cultural concept for speakers. Other cross-linguistic differences in the amount of information packaged in words are the result of differences in word structure. In polysynthetic languages like Yup’ik, words may have elaborate structures. The word above consists of seven meaningful parts: payug-qe-tu-llru-llini-k-iit. Following the root are a suffix -qe- ‘time after time’, a suffix -tu- ‘customarily’, a suffix -llru- for past tense, a suffix -llini- ‘apparently’, a suffix -k- for participial mood, and finally a pronominal suffix -iit ‘they/her’. The variation we find in the amount of information carried by words cross-linguistically raises some fundamental questions. First, are utterances like payugqetullrullinikiit really single words? Second, if they are, do such differences in the packaging of information matter?
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