Vocabulary

A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language.

Definition and usage

Vocabulary is commonly defined as "all the words known and used by a particular person".^[1] Knowing a word, however, is not as simple as simply being able to recognize or use it. There are several aspects of word knowledge which are used to measure word knowledge.

Productive and receptive

The first major distinction that must be made when evaluating word knowledge is whether the knowledge is productive (also called achieve) or receptive (also called receive) and even within those opposing categories, there is often no clear distinction. Words that are generally understood when heard or read or seen constitute a person's receptive vocabulary. These words may range from well known to barely known (see degree of knowledge below). A person's receptive vocabulary is the larger of the two. For example, although a young child may not yet be able to speak, write, or sign, he or she may be able to follow simple commands and appear to understand a good portion of the language to which he or she is exposed. In this case, the child's receptive vocabulary is likely tens, if not hundreds of words but his or her active vocabulary is zero. When that child learns to speak or sign, however, the child's active vocabulary begins to increase. It is possible for the productive vocabulary to be larger than the receptive vocabulary, for example in a second-language learner who has learned words through study rather than exposure, and can produce them, but has difficulty recognizing them in conversation.
Productive vocabulary, therefore, generally refers to words which can be produced within an appropriate context and match the intended meaning of the speaker or signer. As with receptive vocabulary, however, there are many degrees at which a particular word may be considered part of an active vocabulary. Knowing how to pronounce, sign, or write a word does not necessarily mean that the word has been used to correctly or accurately reflect the intended message of the utterance, but it does reflect a minimal amount of productive knowledge.

Degree of knowledge

Within the receptive–productive distinction lies a range of abilities which are often referred to as degree of knowledge. This simply indicates that a word gradually enters a person's vocabulary over a period of time as more aspects of word knowledge are learnt. Roughly, these stages could be described as:

1. Never encountered the word.
2. Heard the word, but cannot define it.
3. Recognize the word due to context or tone of voice.
4. Able to use the word and understand the general and/or intended meaning, but cannot clearly explain it.
5. Fluent with the word – its use and definition.

Depth of knowledge

The differing degrees of word knowledge imply a greater depth of knowledge, but the process is more complex than that. There are many facets to knowing a word, some of which are not hierarchical so their acquisition does not necessarily follow a linear progression suggested by degree of knowledge. Several frameworks of word knowledge have been proposed to better operationalise this concept. One such framework includes nine facets:

1. orthography - written form
2. phonology - spoken form
3. reference - meaning
4. semantics - concept and reference
5. register - appropriacy of use
6. collocation - lexical neighbours
7. word associations
8. syntax - grammatical function
9. morphology - word parts

Types of vocabulary

Listed in order of most ample to most limited:^[2][3]

Reading vocabulary

A literate person's reading vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize when reading. This is generally the largest type of vocabulary simply because a reader tends to be exposed to more words by reading than by listening. In many cases, notably Chinese characters, as in Chinese and Japanese kanji, where the pronunciation is not indicated by the written word, some words may be part of the written vocabulary but not the commonly spoken language. For example, a Chinese speaker may not recognize that(giraffe) is pronounced qi lin, a Japanese speaker may not recognize that(giraffe) is pronounced kirin.

Listening vocabulary

A person's listening vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize when listening to speech. People may still understand words they were not exposed to before using cues such as tone, gestures, the topic of discussion and the social context of the conversation.

Speaking vocabulary

A person's speaking vocabulary is all the words he or she uses in speech. It is likely to be a subset of the listening vocabulary. Due to the spontaneous nature of speech, words are often misused. This misuse – though slight and unintentional – may be compensated by facial expressions, tone of voice, or hand gestures.

Writing vocabulary

Words are used in various forms of writing from formal essays to Twitter feeds. Many written words do not commonly appear in speech. Writers generally use a limited set of words when communicating: for example

• if there are a number of synonyms, a writer will have his own preference as to which of them to use.
• he is unlikely to use technical vocabulary relating to a subject in which he has no knowledge or interest.

Focal vocabulary

Focal vocabulary is a specialized set of terms and distinctions that is particularly important to a certain group: those with a particular focus of experience or activity. A lexicon, or vocabulary, is a language's dictionary: its set of names for things, events, and ideas. Some linguists believe that lexicon influences people's perception of things, the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. For example, the Nuer of Sudan have an elaborate vocabulary to describe cattle. The Nuer have dozens of names for cattle because of the cattle's particular histories, economies, and environments^{[clarification needed]}. This kind of comparison has elicited some linguistic controversy, as with the number of "Eskimo words for snow". English speakers with relevant specialised knowledge can also display elaborate and precise vocabularies for snow and cattle when the need arises.^[4][5]

Vocabulary growth

During its infancy, a child instinctively builds a vocabulary. Infants imitate words that they hear and then associate those words with objects and actions. This is the listening vocabulary. The speaking vocabulary follows, as a child's thoughts become more reliant on his/her ability to self-express without relying on gestures or babbling. Once the reading and writing vocabularies start to develop, through questions and education, the child starts to discover the anomalies and irregularities of language.
In first grade, a child who can read learns about twice as many words as one who cannot. Generally, this gap does not narrow later. This results in a wide range of vocabulary by age five or six, when an English-speaking child will have learned about 1500 words.^[6]
After leaving school, vocabulary growth reaches a plateau^{[clarification needed]}. People usually then expand their vocabularies by e.g. reading, playing word games, and by participating in vocabulary-related programs. Exposure to traditional print media teaches correct spelling and vocabulary, while exposure to text messaging leads to more relaxed word acceptability constraints.^[7]

The importance of a vocabulary

• An extensive vocabulary aids expression and communication.
• Vocabulary size has been directly linked to reading comprehension.^[8]
• Linguistic vocabulary is synonymous with thinking vocabulary.^[8]
• A person may be judged by others based on his or her vocabulary.
• Wilkins (1972) once said," Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed."^[9]

Native- and foreign-language vocabulary size

Native-language vocabulary size

Native speakers' vocabularies vary widely within a language, and are especially dependent on the level of the speaker's education. A 1995 study shows that junior-high students would be able to recognize the meanings of about 10,000–12,000 words, whereas for college students this number grows up to about 12,000–17,000 and for elderly adults up to about 17,000 or more.^[10]

Foreign-language vocabulary

The effects of vocabulary size on language comprehension

The knowledge of the words deriving from the 3000 most frequent English word families and the 5000 most frequent words provides a comprehension of 95% of word use,^[11] and knowledge of 5000 word families is necessary for 99.9% word coverage.^{[citation needed]}

Second language vocabulary acquisition

Learning vocabulary is one of the first steps in learning a second language, but a learner never finishes vocabulary acquisition. Whether in one's native language or a second language, the acquisition of new vocabulary is an ongoing process. There are many techniques which help one acquire new vocabulary.

Memorization

Although memorization can be seen as tedious or boring, associating one word in the native language with the corresponding word in the second language until memorized is considered one of the best methods of vocabulary acquisition. By the time students reach adulthood, they generally have gathered a number of personalized memorization methods. Although many argue that memorization does not typically require the complex cognitive processing that increases retention (Sagarra & Alba, 2006),^[12] it does typically require a large amount of repetition, and spaced repetition with flashcards is an established method for memorization, particularly used for vocabulary acquisition in computer-assisted language learning. Other methods typically require more time and longer to recall.
Some words cannot be easily linked through association or other methods. When a word in the second language is phonologically or visually similar to a word in the native language, one often assumes they also share similar meanings. Though this is frequently the case, it is not always true. When faced with a false friend, memorization and repetition are the keys to mastery. If a second language learner relies solely on word associations to learn new vocabulary, that person will have a very difficult time mastering false friends. When large amounts of vocabulary must be acquired in a limited amount of time, when the learner needs to recall information quickly, when words represent abstract concepts or are difficult to picture in a mental image, or when discriminating between false friends, rote memorization is the method to use. A neural network model of novel word learning across orthographies, accounting for L1-specific memorization abilities of L2-learners has recently been introduced (Hadzibeganovic & Cannas, 2009).^[13]

The Keyword Method

One useful method of building vocabulary in a second language is the keyword method. If time is available or one wants to emphasize a few key words, one can create mnemonic devices or word associations. Although these strategies tend to take longer to implement and may take longer in recollection, they create new or unusual connections that can increase retention. The keyword method requires deeper cognitive processing, thus increasing the likelihood of retention (Sagarra & Alba, 2006).^[12] This method uses fits within Paivio's (1986)^[14] dual coding theory because it uses both verbal and image memory systems. However, this method is best for words that represent concrete and imageable things. Abstract concepts or words that do not bring a distinct image to mind are difficult to associate. In addition, studies have shown that associative vocabulary learning is more successful with younger students (Sagarra & Alba, 2006).^[12] Older students tend to rely less on creating word associations to remember vocabulary.

Word lists

Several word lists have been developed to provide people with a limited vocabulary either for the purpose of rapid language proficiency or for effective communication. These include Basic English (850 words), Special English (1500 words) and Oxford 3000. The Swadesh list was made for investigation in Linguistics.

MORPHEME

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Prefixes and suffixes

Prefixes and suffixes are sets of letters that are added to the beginning or end of another word. They are not words in their own right and cannot stand on their own in a sentence: if they are printed on their own they have a hyphen before or after them.

Prefixes

Prefixes are added to the beginning of an existing word in order to create a new word with a different meaning. For example:

word	prefix	new word
happy	un-	unhappy
cultural	multi-	multicultural
work	over-	overwork
space	cyber-	cyberspace
market	super-	supermarket

Suffixes

Suffixes are added to the end of an existing word. For example:

word	suffix	new word
child	-ish	childish
work	-er	worker
taste	-less	tasteless
idol	-ize/-ise	idolize/idolise
like	-able	likeable

The addition of a suffix often changes a word from one word class to another. In the table above, the verb like becomes the adjective likeable, the noun idol becomes the verb idolize, and the noun child becomes the adjective childish.

Word creation with prefixes and suffixes

Some prefixes and suffixes are part of our living language, in that people regularly use them to create new words for modern products, concepts, or situations. For example:

word	prefix or suffix	new word
security	bio-	biosecurity
clutter	de-	declutter
media	multi-	multimedia
email	-er	emailer

Email is an example of a word that was itself formed from a new prefix, e-, which stands for electronic. This modern prefix has formed an ever-growing number of other Internet-related words, including e-book, e-cash, e-commerce, and e-tailer.
You can read more about prefixes and suffixes on the OxfordWords blog. Here you will find guidelines, examples, and tips for using prefixes and suffixes correctly.

Conjunctions are useful in putting nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and clauses together when making sentences. There are seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so.

I like to eat cheese and crackers. Use "and" when putting two or more things or people together in a group.	cheese and crackers
Hockey is a fun sport, but sometimes you can fall and hurt yourself. "But" is a word that shows contrast or differences. Hockey is fun, but it is also a little dangerous. Fun but dangerous	fun but dangerous
Would you like to eat a hotdog or a hamburger? "Or" provides you with a choice or a decision.	a hotdog or a hamburger
She eats neither hotdogs nor hamburgers. She prefers vegetables. "Nor" is the negative form of "or." It's often used with "neither." ...neither.....nor.....	not a hotdog nor a hamburger
He went to prison, for he had killed someone. "For" is very similar to "because" and "since." This is a difficult conjunction to use. It sounds very formal.	in prison for having killed
It's cold outside, yet these boys don't want to go inside because they are having so much fun. "Yet" is similar to "but." In this usage it's not the same as the "yet" which is used to express time.	cold yet fun
She saw a spider, so she became afraid. "So" is similar to "because" and "for" but you can't use the word in the same position. The same sentence above could be written: She became afraid because she saw a spider.	saw a spider became afraid

Cara Cepat Belajar Bahasa Inggris Sendiri Tanpa Les / Kursus

Ingin tahu bagaimana cara cepat belajar sendiri dan menguasai bahasa Inggris dengan baik tanpa harus ikut bergabung pada lembaga kursus/les bahasa Inggris yang bisa memakan biaya besar, butuh waktu, dan terkadang hasilnya juga tetap tak memuaskan? Ikutilah tips-tips di bawah ini dengan seksama.

• Mantapkan dulu niat dan tekad anda untuk bisa mengusai bahasa Inggris. Jika sudah ada kemauan yang kuat, maka jalan selanjutnya akan lebih mudah.

• Pelajari dulu cara mengucapkan alphabet dalam bahasa Inggris dari a sampai z,angka-angka, dan kata-kata dan kalimat-kalimat dasar bahasa Inggrisseperti : aku, kamu, mereka, dia, disana, siapa, mengapa, dimana, apa kabarmu, baik, ucapan selamat dsb. Ini bisa anda pelajari dari buku-buku belajar bahasa Inggris manapun, tak harus yang mahal-mahal (anak-anak sekarang seharusnya sudah mempelajarinya di sekolah). Lebih bagus lagi jika anda bisa mempelajarinya di internet memanfaatkan mesin pencari google. Tujuan mempelajari kata-kata dan kalimat sederhana ini adalah untuk menumbuhkan minat sekaligus meningkatkan semangat anda dalam belajar karena merasa bisa setelah belajar hal-hal yang mudah.

• Bagian paling penting dari sebuah bahasa adalah kosakata (vocabulary). Anda bisa memasang target harus menghapal berapa banyak kosa kata baru bahasa Inggris dalam sehari. Anda bisa memanfaatkan buku kamus bahasa Inggris maupun internet. Hendaknya anda menghapal bagaimana cara menuliskan kata tersebut, sekaligus cara mengucapkannya yang benar. Untuk mengetahui cara pengucapan yang benar dari suatu kata anda bisa mendengarnya langsung dari internet, biasanya dari situs kamus bahasa Inggris, contohnya :thefreedictionary.com. Situs tersebut memang merupakan situs bahasa Inggris yang memberi penjelasan juga dalam bahasa Inggris. Tapi bagi anda yang pemula bisa memanfaatkannya untuk mendengarkan cara pengucapannya dengan mengklik gambar yang berbentuk terompet setelah anda memasukkan suatu kata kunci yang hendak dicari maknanya. Alternatif lainnya adalah situs kamus.net yang merupakan situs online kamus bahasa inggris - indonesia. Disana selain mendapatkan arti kata dalam bahasa Indonesia, anda juga bisa mendengar cara pengucapan kata. Akan tetapi kelemahannya situs tersebut kurang lengkap (walau terus mengalami perbaikan dari waktu ke waktu). Alternatif tambahan adalah : fitur translate atau terjemahan yang ada di situs google dimana selain berfungsi sebagai kamus (bisa per kata bisa juga per kalimat), juga bisa untuk mendengarkan cara pengucapan kata. Akan tetapi ketepatan google translate ini tak 100%, jadi cuma sebagai pembantu.

• Pelajarilah tata bahasa Inggris (grammar), baik ketika anda sudah menguasai cukup banyak kata-kata bahasa Inggris ataupun dilakukan secara bersamaan dengan menghapal kosakata. Anda bisa memanfaatkan buku apa saja pada awalnya. Setelah anda memiliki cukup bekal kosakata, atau sudah bisa memanfaatkan kamus dan mencari arti kata bahasa inggris dengan cepat, maka janganlah segan-segan memiliki buku tata bahasa (English Grammar) yang tebal-tebal dan bagus. Pelajari dengan teratur, rajin, dan berkesinambungan. Jangan takut jika ada sebagian tata bahasa yang membuat anda bingung. Tak masalah, yang penting hal-hal dasar mampu anda kuasai seperti menyusun kalimat yang benar dalam konteks saat ini (present tense), masa lalu (past tense), masa akan datang, yang sudah terjadi, dsb. yang bisa anda pelajari bertahap. Internet juga bisa anda manfaatkan dalam belajar tata bahasa Inggris saat ini.

• Banyak-banyak membaca artikel atau tulisan bahasa Inggris seperti dari internet, koran / majalah bahasa Inggris, buku-buku bahasa Inggris, dsb. Dengan bekal beberapa kosakata, dan tata bahasa dasar yang telah anda kuasai, anda diharapkan paling tidak sudah bisa mengerti tulisan bahasa Inggris. Walaupun cuma sepertiga atau sepersepuluh paragraf yang anda bisa tahu, tak masalah. Jangan takut ! Anda masih dalam tahap belajar. Dengan membaca tulisan berbahasa Inggris, anda malah akan bisa menambah kosakata anda yakni dengan menandai kata yang tak dimengerti lalu mencari tahu artinya. Anda juga akan dapat gambaran bagaimana tata bahasa Inggris atau cara menyusun kata-kata untuk menjadi sebuah kalimat yang baik dalam bahasa Inggris dengan membaca tulisan-tulisan tersebut.

• Untuk melatih pendengaran anda mendengar bahasa Inggris, anda bisa memanfaatkan nyanyian bahasa Inggris, dengarkan dan bandingkan dengan lyriclagunya yang bisa diperoleh dari internet. Atau bisa juga dengan menonton film-film bahasa Inggris tanpa memperhatikan atau dengan menghilangkan teks bahasa Indonesianya.

• Latihan berbicara bahasa Inggris, baik secara langsung maupun secara mental. Belajar bahasa tanpa praktek memang akan susah. Carilah teman yang bisa anda ajak berlatih bercakap-cakap dalam bahasa Inggris. Anda juga bisa berbicara pada diri anda sendiri atau berpikir dengan menggunakan kalimat bahasa Inggris. Lebih baik lagi jika anda sekali-kali berusaha bercengkrama atau berkenalan dengan orang asing yang berbahasa Inggris sehingga anda bisa mempraktekkan apa yang telah dipelajari secara langsung.

• Jangan pernah menyerah karena memang belajar bahasa butuh waktu. Tak ada orang yang bisa langsung seketika mahir berbahasa Inggris. Butuh proses yang bisa memakan waktu bertahun-tahun untuk bisa ke tahap berkomunikasi memakai bahasa Inggris dengan baik. Maka mulailah dari sekarang sehingga lebih cepat anda akan bisa menguasai bahasa Inggris nantinya.

• Beranilah dan jangan malu ! Bahasa Inggris bukanlah bahasa asli anda. Orang lain (barat/bule) akan mengerti itu, akan paham, dan tak akan pernah mengejek anda jika salah berucap. Perlu anda ketahui banyak orang-orang yang tak bisa berbahasa Inggris dengan baik dan lancar tetap nekad pergi ke negara asing yang berbahasa Inggris, dan mereka nyaris sama sekali tak pernah diejek dengan kemampuan berbahasa yang pas-pasan. Malah pada akhirnya mereka dengan kesungguhan hati dan keberaniannya mampu berbahasa Inggris dengan fasih.