Fact · Dictation
33 and 42percent lexical density (speech and writing)
Eggins (1994), as cited by Ishikawa (2015), found in a corpus analysis that lexical density was 33 percent in speech and 42 percent in writing.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“Eggins (1994) conducted a corpus analysis and determined that lexical density was 33% and ... 42% in speeches and writings respectively”
Lexical Development in L2 English Learners' Speeches and Writings, Shin'ichiro Ishikawa, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 198 (2015) 202-210, 2015, Introduction, lexical density background.
Open the original (DOI 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.437)- What it measures
- The corpus comparison is the basis for the speech-versus-writing difference used by Ishikawa. The figures appear in a PDF whose text is split across a page header.
- What it does not show
- Secondhand: we did not see Eggins (1994). The figures are from a corpus of unspecified size, and definitions of lexical density vary between studies.