WHAT'S IN A WORD ...?

1.1 The status of English

"Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divinegift of articulate speech; that your native language is the language ofShakespeare and Milton and the Bible; and don't sit there crooning likea bilious pigeon.

Look at her-a prisoner of the gutters; Condemned by every syllable sheutters. By right she should be taken out and hung for the cold-bloodedmurder of the English tongue".

The above passage shows Professor's Henry Higgins' (My Fair Lady) utter disgustand annoyance with the way people speak and use English language. English, nodoubt rules the world because of its grandeur, elegance, and universality. Above allits capacity to grow, adapt and adopt new words from numerous other sources. Noother language of the world has had such a profound and enormous impact in science,technology, arts, humanities, religion and social sciences as has English. English isthe most widely spoken and written language on Earth. Although, about one-fifth ofthe world's population, (or over one billion people), speaks some variety of Chinese astheir native language, but you are more likely to find someone with some measure ofknowledge of English than Chinese almost anywhere on the planet.

English was first spoken in Britain by Germanic tribes in Fifth Century AD alsoknown as the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) period. During the Middle English period(1150-1500 AD), a lot of the Old English word endings were replaced by prepositionslike by, with, and from. We are now in the Modern English period which started in theSixteenth Century. English, today without a shadow of doubt is the most predominantlanguage in almost all walks of life, ranging from science, medicine, technology,research, computer science, news, media, entertainment, internet, travel-tourism andeven sports. A good knowledge of English is almost synonymous to being the key tosuccess in the contemporary fast-paced and rapidly developing world.

1.2 The Number Game

The number of words in English has grown from 50,000 odd (old English words)to about 1,000,000 today. About 80% of the entries in any English dictionary areborrowed, mainly from Latin.

New words keep coming up by combining words into one word such as housewife,greenhouse, overdue, and laptop etc.

The addition of prefixes and suffixes to words also increases the immense vocabularyof the English language.

Today, more than 750 million people use the English language.

An average educated person knows about 20,000 words and uses about 2,000 wordsin a week.

Despite its widespread use, there are only about 350 million people who use it as theirmother tongue.

English is the official language of the Olympics.

More than half of the world's technical and scientific periodicals as well three quartersof the world's mail, and its telexes and cables are in English.

About 80% of the information stored in the world's computers is also in English.

English is also communicated to more than 100 million people every day by 5 of thelargest broadcasting companies (CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC, CBC CNA).

1.3 How many words are there in the English language?

There is no single realistic answer to this question. As it's impossible to count thenumber of words in a language, because it's so hard to decide what actually counts asa word. A word may be generally considered a noun but it may also be used as a verb.Then, how should it be counted or what should it be considered in this regard? Shouldwe count it only once as one word or consider it as two words. For example, table,generally refers to a piece or article of furniture, thus a noun, but it also could beused as a verb, meaning to to table (a motion / undecided issue) (1) to hold somethingback until a later time; (2) to remove from consideration. Similarly, should the pluralof chair, chairs be considered another word apart from the main entry- chair? Again,take for example, laptop, which is a combination of lap and top, which already existas two separate words. So, should it be taken as another "new" word in its own rightor should it be ignored in the reckoning as a new word?

This argument leads us to suggest that there are, at the very least, a quarter of amillion distinct English words, excluding inflections, (s, es, ed, ing etc. forms.) andwords from technical and regional vocabulary not covered by any standard up-to-datedictionary. If distinct senses were counted, the total number of words would amountto approximately 750,000 that is, three quarters of a million.

The Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use,and 47,156 obsolete (out-of-date, no more in active use) words. To this may be addedaround 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. (derivative from derivation-the formation of a word from another word or from a root in the same or anotherlanguage such as electricity from electric.) Over half of these words are nouns, abouta quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of exclamations,conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes, etc. And these figures don't take account ofentries with senses for different word classes (such as noun and adjective).

All in all, about 750,000 words if we include professional terms not in general use,otherwise it would be about 250,000. However, in December 2010 a joint Harvard/Google study found that English language contains 1,022,000 words and is expandingat the rate of 8,500 words per year. That means about 23- 25 words per day are addedto the English language. The findings came from the computer analysis of 5,195,769digitized books.

2 What is a word?

According to thefreedictionary.com a word (wûrd / , [w[??]d] is:

1. A sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing or printingthat symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a singlemorpheme or of a combination of morphemes.

2. Something said; an utterance, a remark, or a comment:

A single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (orsometimes alone) to form a sentence.

In language, a word is the smallest element that may be uttered in isolation with literalor practical meaning.

In linguistics, a word is one of the units of speech or writing that native speakers of alanguage usually regard as the smallest meaningful element of the language, althoughlinguists would analyze these further into morphemes and lexical units.

In addition, a word may suggest a few more meanings or senses. Such as, take myword, here, word, suggests an assurance and guarantee. He gave me his word / Hekept his word. Here it means a solemn promise. Word may also refer to the scriptures(the Bible – the word of God) or the teachings of Jesus.

3 What is Vocabulary?

A vocabulary is defined as "all the words known and used by a particular person".However, the words known and used by a particular person do not include all thewords a person is exposed to or comes in contact with. By definition, a vocabularyincludes the ability to use a word even if one cannot clearly explain it and the secondstep is, being well acquainted with the word, both, in its usage and meaning.

Generally "vocabulary" means "all the words known and used by a particular person.Knowing a word, however, is not just being able to recognize a word or use it, there ismuch more to it than just that. There are several aspects of word-knowledge which areused to assess the knowledge of a word or words.

Note: Some material in this section has been adapted from the works of I. S. P.Nation

4 The Size of Vocabulary: How many words does a nativespeaker know?

A native speaker is expected to add roughly 1000 word families a year to his/hervocabulary size of around 20,000 word families. That means a five year old school-beginningchild will have a vocabulary of around 4000 to 5000 word families. Auniversity graduate will have a vocabulary of around 20,000 word families (Goulden,Nation and Read, 1990). These figures are roughly estimated and there is likely tobe very large variation between individuals. Moreover, these figures exclude propernames, compound words, abbreviations, and foreign words. A word family is takento include a base word, (e.g. go) its inflected forms, (goes, going) and a small numberof reasonably regular derived forms (Bauer and Nation, 1993). Some researcherssuggest vocabulary sizes larger than these but in the well conducted studies (forexample, D'Anna, Zechmeister nad Hall, 1991) the differences are mainly the result ofdifferences in what items are included in the count and how a word family is defined.We will look at the word families and how they work, in proceeding pages.

5 Ogden's word research and vocabulary lists:

Charles K. Ogden, (1889–1957), British linguist and philosopher, discovered that ifwe were to take the 25,000 word Oxford Pocket English Dictionary and take awaythe redundant words that can be made by putting together simpler words, we find that90% of the concepts in that dictionary can be achieved with just 850 words.

Charles K. Ogden the developer of this technique called this simplified language BasicEnglish, and it was released in 1930 as a book, entitled, Basic English: A GeneralIntroduction with Rules and Grammar. His most famous associate, I.A. Richards, ledthe effort in the Orient, which uses the techniques to this day.

II. Types of vocabulary

1. Reading vocabulary

A person's reading vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize when reading.This is the largest type of vocabulary, simply because it includes the other three.

2. Listening vocabulary

A person's listening vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize when listeningto speech. This vocabulary is supported in size by context and tone of voice.

3. Writing vocabulary

A person's writing vocabulary is all the words he or she can make use of in writing.Contrary to the previous two vocabulary types, the writing vocabulary is inspired andprompted by its user.

4. Speaking vocabulary

A person's speaking vocabulary is all the words he or she can use in speech. Due tothe natural mode of the speaking vocabulary, words are often misused. This misuse– though slight and unintentional – may be balanced by facial expressions, tone ofvoice, or hand gestures and other paralingual features.

5. Focal vocabulary

"Focal vocabulary" is a specialized set of terms and distinctions that is particularlyimportant to a certain group; those with particular focus of experience or activity. Alexicon, or vocabulary, is a language's dictionary, its set of names for things, events,and ideas.

III. Vocabulary growth

1. At early age2.Initially, in the infancy (babyhood) stage, vocabulary growth requires no effort.

Babies hear words and imitate them, eventually associating them with objects andactions. This is the listening vocabulary. The speaking vocabulary follows, as a child'sthoughts become more dependent on its ability to express itself without gesturesand mere sounds. Once the reading and writing vocabularies are attained – throughquestions and education – the irregularities and inconsistencies of language can benoticed, understood and reconciled.

In first grade, a privileged student (i.e. a literate student) knows about twice as manywords as a disadvantaged or underprivileged student. Generally, this gap does nottighten. This converts into a wide range of vocabulary size by age five or six, at whichtime an English-speaking child will know about 2,500–5,000 words. An averagestudent learns 3,000 odd words per year, or approximately eight words per day.

After leaving school or finishing formal education (college/university), vocabularygrowth slows down and almost settles at a certain level and is most likely to remainat that level. However, people may then expand their vocabularies by reading, playingword games, participating in vocabulary programs, etc.

2. Passive vs. active vocabulary

Even if we learn a word, it takes a lot of practice and context connections for usto learn it well. A rough grouping of words we understand when we hear themencompasses our "passive" vocabulary, whereas our "active" vocabulary is made upof words that come to our mind immediately when we have to use them in a sentence,as we speak. In this case, we often have to come up with a word in the timeframe ofsplit seconds, so one has to know it well, often in combinations with other words inphrases, where it is commonly used.

3. The importance of learning / teaching vocabulary

No one can deny the importance of vocabulary in mastering language. According toa renowned linguist, Jeremy Harmer, "If language structures make up the skeletonof language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh" ThePractice of English Language Teaching, Longman Pub.

Harmer goes on to stress the importance of vocabulary by asserting the supremacyof vocabulary even over grammar, structure and syntax. This is what Harmer has tosay in this regard, "... where vocabulary is used correctly it can cancel out structuralaccuracy."

Most of the pedagogical strategies and training focus on teaching teachers how toteach structure, grammar, syntax and composition. Very little attention is given to thearea of teaching vocabulary. Whereas, teaching vocabulary should be considered asvital a skill as teaching structure.

Why Teach / Learn Vocabulary?

a. An extensive vocabulary aids expressions and communication

b. Vocabulary size has been directly linked to reading comprehension

c. Linguistic vocabulary is synonymous with thinking vocabulary

d. A person may be judged by others based on his or her vocabulary

IV. Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition

Learning vocabulary is one of the first steps of learning a second language, yet onenever reaches the final step in getting a full hold on vocabulary and of course onlanguage itself. Whether in one's native language or a second language, the acquisitionof new vocabulary is a continuous process. Several methods can help one learn newvocabulary.

1. Memorization

Although memorization can be seen as dull or boring, associating one word in thenative language with the matching word in the second language until memorized isstill one of the best methods of vocabulary acquisition. By the time a student reachesadulthood, he or she generally gathers a number of personalized memorizationmethods. However, the drawback of this method is that a student tends to learn wordsin isolation, without seeing them in context. Words exist in relation with other words;therefore, students need to see words placed with other words to understand theirpurpose, their place, their function and their particular meaning in the context theyoccur.

2. The Keyword Method

One useful method to build vocabulary in a second language is the keyword method.When additional time is available or one wants to emphasize a few key words, onecan create mnemonic (memory-aid) strategies or word associations. Although thesestrategies tend to take longer to put in practice and may take longer in disposing tomemory or calling to mind, they create new or unusual connections that can increasepreservation. As students advance and grow older, they tend to rely less on creatingword associations to remember vocabulary. The key word method can work in twoways. The teacher may introduce the important or target words before going througha text or focus on them after having read the text once or even twice.

3. Basic English vocabulary

Several word lists have been developed to provide people with a limited vocabularyeither quick language proficiency or an effective means of communication. In 1930,Charles Kay Ogden created Basic English (850 words). Other lists include SimplifiedEnglish (1000 words) and Special English (1500 words). The General Service List,2000 high frequency words compiled by Michael West from a 5,000,000 word corpus,has been used to create a number of adapted reading texts for English languagelearners. Knowing 2000 English words, one could understand quite a lot of English,and even read a lot of simple material without any problem.