Core Vocabulary Research Articles

Kinship Analysis Malay And Gayo Language : A Comperativ Historical Linguistic Study

This study aims to reveal a relationship between Gayo and Malay which can be seen from the similarity of vocabulary. The method used is descriptive qualitative and quantitative. The data is in the form of vocabulary from Malay and Gayo language which has 6% similarity. This data can be proven not to have a close relationship because the core vocabulary is less than 36% or part of the sub grouping. This research also uses qualitative and quantitative methods. Mahsun (2005) states that qualitative is a way of grouping derived languages into a group that is closer to their relationship, and then using lexicostatistical techniques to analyze the data that has been collected..

Using Mobile Devices for Vocabulary Learning Outside the Classroom: Improving the English as Foreign Language Learners' Knowledge of High-Frequency Words.

The present study investigated the impacts of mobile assisted vocabulary learning via digital flashcards (DFs). The data were collected from 44 adult English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in three intact classes in a private language teaching institute in Iran, randomly assigned to experimental (N = 27) and control (N = 17) learning conditions. The experimental group used a freely available DF application (i.e., NGSL builder) to learn items from a recently developed corpus-based word list for high-frequency vocabulary in English (NGSL). The treatment was implemented as out-of-the-classroom learning activities where the EFL learners used DFs to augment their vocabulary knowledge, and their learning gains were compared to the control group that received regular English language education. The participants’ vocabulary knowledge was tested in pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests, and the findings indicated that using DFs for outside the classroom vocabulary learning contributed significantly to short- and long-term improvements in the knowledge of high-frequency words. The study provided empirical evidence for the affordances of mobile assisted vocabulary learning for learning a considerable proportion of core vocabulary and has some implications for addressing the vocabulary learning needs of EFL learners.

On Vocabulary Learning Strategies in ESP: A Students’ Perspective

The paper discusses the role of vocabulary learning in English for Specific Purposes. When learning ESP, vocabulary is viewed as a micro-skill
 that needs to be developed, while in ESP teaching, we may speak of semitechnical vocabulary (Baker 1988) characterized by its association with a specific subject area, which shares characteristics of both technical and core vocabulary. The focus of this paper is to identify the main vocabulary problems faced by students in ESP. The investigation will reveal that the chief problem faced by ESP students is their narrow knowledge of vocabulary, which leads to difficulties in speaking and understanding oral and written messages.

A temporal-based therapy for children with inconsistent phonological disorder: A case-series

ABSTRACT Deficits in temporal auditory processing, and in particular higher gap detection thresholds have been reported in children with inconsistent phonological disorder (IPD). Here we hypothesized that providing these children with extra time for phoneme identification may in turn enhance their phonological planning abilities for production, and accordingly improve not only consistency but also accuracy of their speech. We designed and tested a new temporal-based therapy, inspired by Core Vocabulary Therapy and called it T-CVT, where we digitally lengthened formant transitions between phonemes of words used for therapy. This allowed to target both temporal auditory processing and word phonological planning. Four preschool Persian native children with IPD received T-CVT for eight weeks. We measured changes in speech consistency (% inconsistency) and accuracy (percentage of consonants correct PCC) to assess the effects of the intervention. Therapy significantly improved both consistency and accuracy of word production in the four children: % inconsistency decreased from 59% on average before therapy to 2% post-T-CVT, and PCC increased from 61% to 92% on average. Consistency and accuracy were furthermore maintained or even still improved at three-month follow-up (2% inconsistency and 99% PCC). Results in a nonword repetition task showed the generalization of these effects to non-treated material: % inconsistency for nonwords decreased from 67% to 10% post-therapy, and PCC increased from 63% to 90%. These preliminary findings support the efficacy of the T-CVT intervention for children with IPD who show temporal auditory processing deficits as reflected by higher gap detection thresholds.

Out-of-the-classroom learning of English vocabulary by EFL learners: investigating the effectiveness of mobile assisted learning with digital flashcards

The importance of vocabulary knowledge as one of the most challenging aspects of foreign language learning has been widely acknowledged. In order to facilitate learning vocabulary items in English by language learners, mobile assisted vocabulary learning attracted considerable attention in recent years. Nevertheless, the application of mobile devices for learning the most frequently used vocabulary items in core vocabulary lists received far less attention. To address this gap, the current study investigated the contribution of a digital flashcard application (i.e. NGSL builder) designed for smartphone devices in out-of-the-classroom learning of essential vocabulary in English among EFL learners. The participants were 86 university students in experimental and control groups. In addition to formal language education during a semester, the experimental group used the mobile application for studying vocabulary items outside the classroom, while the control group used traditional materials (i.e. word list) to study the same content. The participants’ vocabulary knowledge was measured in three times (pre, post, and delayed posttest), and the results revealed that the use of mobile applications contributed significantly to vocabulary knowledge development, and those in the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in the control group. The findings also provided empirical evidence for the long-term impacts of mobile-assisted vocabulary learning. The study highlights the significance of mobile technologies in helping L2 learners to acquire essential vocabulary in English and discusses the pedagogical implications of these findings.

Flipped classrooms and their effect on Omani students’ vocabulary achievement and motivation towards learning English

This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of the flipped classroom strategy (FCS) on Omani grade ten students’ vocabulary achievement and on their motivation towards learning English. This study also sought to explore the challenges that students face while learning via FCS. A total of 48 students participated in the study. There were 24 as an experimental group (taught via the FCS) and 24 as a control group (taught the same vocabulary using conventional teaching strategies). During the intervention, students in the experimental group practiced the core vocabulary using different materials (video clips, PDF files and group discussions via a WhatsApp group before carrying out face-to-face activities in the classroom). During the classroom time, the students engaged in activities with the practice materials individually, in pairs and in groups. The study used an achievement pre- and post-test. The study also used a motivation questionnaire (pre and post) to determine the students' motivation for English language learning for both groups. The findings indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the vocabulary test and that they had high motivation towards learning English. In addition, the study also pointed out some of the challenges of learning via FCS such as connectivity issues, and lack of group cooperation. Considering these findings, practice implications and recommendations for further research are presented.

Facing a Clinical Challenge: Limited Empirical Support for Toddler Speech Sound Production Intervention Approaches.

Speech sound production intervention in early childhood is relatively rare despite empirical and theoretical support for providing this type of targeted therapy for toddlers. Challenges perpetuate the present clinical condition including those related to treatment decision making (e.g., intervention approach). Although there are numerous speech sound production treatment approaches appropriate for the pediatric population, a much smaller proportion are proposed to be appropriate for children under the age of 3 years. Of these, five approaches (i.e., core vocabulary, cycles, naturalist recast, stimulability, and psycholinguistic intervention) were selected for review because they can be used to treat functional speech sound disorders produced by toddlers and none required additional clinician training for implementation. We found the empirical evidence supporting the use of these approaches with children under the age of 3 years scant to nonexistent. Due to the lack of empirical evidence, early intervention speech-language pathologists must primarily rely on internal factors (e.g., clinician experience and client/caregiver perspectives) to support evidence-based intervention decisions in the absence of external empirical support. Clinical action steps such as careful documentation of approaches used/discontinued and associated individual client outcomes are necessary for evidence-based decision making until more robust empirical evidence is established.

The development of a core key word signing vocabulary (Lámh) to facilitate communication with children with down syndrome in the first year of mainstream primary school in Ireland

Key word signing, an unaided augmentative, and alternative communication (AAC) system is commonly used by children with Down syndrome who attend mainstream primary schools. To ensure the successful use of key word signing within a mainstream environment, a meaningful, contextually appropriate sign vocabulary must be available to all communication partners. The aim of this study was to develop a core school-based key word signing vocabulary to facilitate effective communication between children with Down syndrome and their communication partners in the first year of mainstream primary school. Four key groups—participants with Down syndrome, their peers, teachers, and special needs assistants—and a speech-language pathologist contributed to the vocabulary over the course of an academic year, through observations, semi-structured interviews, and guided tours of the school environment. Based on criteria of frequency and commonality, 140 words were considered to be core vocabulary. The current study provides new insights into the complex process of vocabulary selection for children who use key word signing at school and highlights the importance of access to a functional sign vocabulary in facilitating inclusive education practices.

The Territorialities of U.S. Imperialism(s): Conflicting Discourses of Sovereignty, Jurisdiction and Territory in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Legal Texts and Indigenous Life Writing by Jens Temmen

Reviewed by: The Territorialities of U.S. Imperialism(s): Conflicting Discourses of Sovereignty, Jurisdiction and Territory in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Legal Texts and Indigenous Life Writing by Jens Temmen Katrina Phillips (bio) The Territorialities of U.S. Imperialism(s): Conflicting Discourses of Sovereignty, Jurisdiction and Territory in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Legal Texts and Indigenous Life Writing Jens Temmen Universitätsverlag Winter, 2020, x +259 pp. ISBN 9783825347130, $56 hardcover. Settlers in what is now known as the United States dreamed of expansion before they even reached the westernmost part of the continent. According to Roberta Conner, Joseph J. Ellis identified a "fully continental vision of an American empire" in George Washington's 1783 annual message—and James P. Ronda contends that Thomas Jefferson was "determined to make the United States an imperial contender" (qtd. in Conner 108). It would not be as easy as these men hoped, though, particularly as American settlers, surveyors, and soldiers continually encountered hundreds of sovereign Native nations who had called these lands homes since time immemorial. America's burgeoning legal system—and its stumbling implementation of often contradictory federal Indian policies—regularly required what Jens Temmen considers "the terminology of aberration, exception, or simply extinction" in order to marginalize Native nations within US legal discourses (39). The federal government, along with American citizens, businessmen, and military officials, turned their attentions overseas toward the end of the nineteenth century, gleefully embracing the spoils of imperialism. For Temmen, though, this shift is not as neatly defined or differentiated as some scholars may hope (39). In The Territorialities of U.S. Imperialism(s), Temmen traces the trajectory of US imperial expansion from the continent to overseas, focusing on what he considers "the moments and spaces that connect or disconnect these phases" (2). For Temmen, the US nation-state became conterminous with the North American continent as early as the American Revolution, projecting sovereignty over the continent while simultaneously nullifying Native and Indigenous sovereignties (3). Temmen argues that the study of US imperialism seems to be in a holding pattern, one that maintains an ongoing dialogue over how to analyze the differences in the two phases of American expansion without simply reverting to what Amy Kaplan calls "the central geographic bifurcation between continental expansion [End Page 104] and overseas empire" (10). The book is rooted in what he describes as "nodes of connection and narratives of disconnection between these U.S. imperialism(s)," centering 1898 as an alleged watershed moment for US imperialism (8). Temmen's addition of the plural "s" in parentheses is deliberate, underscoring his focus on this "multitude of imperial strategies, while still emphasizing their fundamental connectedness" (11–12). The notion of "the trinity of sovereignty, jurisdiction, and territory" serves as what Temmen calls "the core vocabulary" of the book (3). By analyzing works that were either written or cowritten by Indigenous authors alongside US legal texts, Temmen highlights the myriad ways Indigenous people have long pushed back against the notions of US imperialism. At first glance, Temmen's choice of works may seem incongruous or too dissimilar or disparate to support his argument: Temmen places John Rollin Ridge's The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit (1854) and Queen Lili'uokalani's Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen (1898) alongside Geronimo and Stephen M. Barrett's Geronimo's Story of His Life (1905). One might argue that there are few similarities among the histories of these three Indigenous nations—the Cherokee, the Kānaka Maoli, and the Apache—not to mention the differences among their engagements with and methods of resistance to American imperialism. However, Temmen's careful reading of these literary texts against legal and government-written texts balances out what he calls the consideration of the two, particularly by legal scholars, as "unequal partners" divided between robust enforcement and emotional education (45). The Indigenous authors of these texts wanted justice for their communities, and they deliberately put the US legal system on trial through their writings (48). These texts, for Temmen, become a means of "haunting" the system that has long sought to erase and eradicate Indigenous sovereignty. Temmen begins with Ridge's dime novel...

An investigation of the lexico-grammatical profile of English legal- lay language

The article presents a study on the lexico-grammar of the genre ofEnglish legal-lay language (Tiersma 1999), using the English subcorpus of theCorIELLS corpus (Busso forthcoming). The study explores four grammaticalconstructions (in Goldberg 2006’s Construction Grammar sense): nominalisationsheading prepositional phrase attachments, modal verb constructions, participialreduced relative constructions, and passive constructions. Specifically, we usecollostructional analysis (Stefanowitsch 2013), followed by a vocabulary analysisusing English core vocabulary as a reference (Brezina and Gablasova 2015), anda comparative frequency analysis with corpora of legal language and general-domain written prose. Results of this first part of the study foreground how legal-lay language is quantitatively different from both neighbouring genres, suggestingthat it might be considered a “blended” genre. We further explore the data in termsof accessibility for speakers, using readability metrics and a survey on Englishparticipants. Both methods show that legal-lay language is at an intermediatelevel of complexity between legal jargon and general-domain prose; however, wefurther note that readability metrics generally underestimate speakers’ ability tocomprehend legal-lay language.

A Survey on AAC Fringe Vocabulary to Support Personal Assistance Service

Objectives: There are increasing demands for personal assistance services which help the disabled to carry out their daily life. To use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) approaches more effectively in daily communication, it is essential to include the appropriate core and fringe vocabulary in the AAC system. Considering the fact that there are few studies in Korea which have reported fringe vocabulary compared to core vocabulary, this study is aimed to develop a noun list that can be used to promote interactive communication between the disabled and their assistants in each communication situation.Methods: A literature review was conducted to elicit frequently used nouns in each communication situation. Then, a survey was carried out to identify nouns with high word commonality across 105 personal assistants.Results: Sixty-three nouns with more than 50% of word commonality across personal assistants were identified from the 244 fringe vocabulary; consisting of 112 nouns in the area of going out, 29 in cleaning, 27 in personal hygiene, 26 in cooking, 20 in meal supporting, 20 in other service areas, and 10 in commuting.Conclusion: The identified nouns are expected to help people with complex communication needs to express their needs and wants more clearly and effectively using those nouns embedded in their AAC systems. The list of nouns can be used not only for people who receive personal assistance services, but also for people who rely on AAC systems to express their daily needs.

텍스트 마이닝을 통한 한국어 학습자 사용 어휘 특성 연구 - 구어 말뭉치 분석을 중심으로 -

This study aims to examine a spoken corpus of Korean learners based on each learner's proficiency and nationality to identify the relational networks and main topics of core vocabulary and to confirm that Korean language education is being conducted appropriately in accordance with the grade goals suggested in the international Korean standard curriculum. To this end, core vocabulary was extracted using text mining techniques and data structures and common topics were found and then visualized and analyzed as relational networks. Text mining found that most Korean learners, other than advanced learners, use vocabulary according to proficiency and use vocabulary differently depending on nationality. These results demonstrate the need to provide vocabulary education to advanced learners according to their proficiency and show learners' purposes for learning Korean and values according to their nationality.

ДО ПРОБЛЕМИ ВИДІЛЕННЯ БАЗОВОЇ ЛЕКСИКИ КИТАЙСЬКОМОВНОГО ПЕДАГОГІЧНОГО ДИСКУРСУ: АНАЛІТИЧНИЙ ОГЛЯД НАУКОВИХ ПРАЦЬ

The present paper aims to define the term «basic lexis» of Chinese pedagogical discourse. We identify pedagogical discourse as a systematic process of interaction between speakers within the pedagogical situation, where participants use extralinguistic, pragmalinguistic and linguistic sign systems. The basis of pedagogical discourse, as we understand, is the text. Pedagogical discourse as a unit of speech level under certain conditions unfolds around a static formation with a complete and established form – the text, as a unit of language level. The word most clearly manifests its functions as a lexical unit of language only in text. The word is the central functional and structural unit of the language system; all other language units are somehow connected with the word. A recent review of literature on the topic found that there is no clear definition of «basic lexis». Given that our definition of «basic lexis» is based on the results from such analyses. The authors' definition of «basic lexis» is proposed. The term is explained by the authors as the core vocabulary, a list of the most commonly used words necessary for learning languages on different levels. The recent researches on determining the list of word that is considered as «basic lexis» are presented and analyzed. It has been pointed out that frequency is considered to be the main criteria in the process of determining the list of basic lexis.

Two Limitations of Globalization Theory

Although globalization theories have flourished over the last four decades, they are still struggling to overcome some of their long-standing limitations. After an initial discussion of influential mappings of globalization theories that frame the discussion of their shortcomings, this article takes up two persistent limitations. First, major concepts of globalization theory still lack definitional precision as well as clear analytical and historical delineation. The article addresses these problems by reexamining four core concepts of globalization theory. The ensuing exercise in conceptual clarification draws on Raymond Williams’s pioneering approach to “keywords.” The second limitation concerns the slowness with which many globalization theorists have included pertinent keywords outside familiar meaning orbits. The article argues for an expansion of the core vocabulary of globalization theory to achieve a more systemic integration of new keywords, especially from postcolonial and environmental theory. Overcoming these two persistent limitations of globalization theory depends on the success of a number of critical measures proposed in this article.

Vocabulary: Common or Basic?

Neither linguistics nor psychology offers a single, unified notion of simplicity, and therefore the simplest “core” layer of vocabulary is hard to define in theory and hard to pinpoint in practice. In section 1 we briefly survey the main approaches, and distinguish two that are highly relevant to lexicography: we will call these common and basic. In sections 2 and 3 we compare these approaches, and in section 4 we point the reader to Kolmogorov complexity, unfamiliar as it may be to most working psychologists, lexicographers, and educators, as the best formal means to deal with core vocabulary.

Nursing Information Behavior (NIB) in the Pandemic: Resilience of a Knowledge Base

Health care assumed epic proportions in 2020 as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, crossing all social, geographic, economic and political lines. A key component of care at every phase of the pandemic has been home care nursing. A virtual domain analysis clinic (DAC) was constructed around the focus of nursing information behavior (NIB). An important question for research was the extent to which the ontological base underlying NIB might be the subject of conceptual evolution during the pandemic. The clinic began by using domain analytical techniques to extract a NIB taxonomy from a key text; the taxonomy was then mapped to an international nursing classification and published online where it could be available for scholarship. As the pandemic evolved the DAC employed ethnographic techniques to discover ways in which the knowledge base represented by the pandemic was affected over time. The knowledge base of NIB is resilient. The taxonomy of the domain originally drawn from research and mapped to a classification of practice is sustainably efficacious throughout this project. The analysis of video transcripts reveals ethnographic contexts emerging over the course of the pandemic that provide new contours for the knowledge base. Beyond the resilient core lies a rich panoply of emergent vocabulary. The vocabulary of the pandemic itself becomes part of the knowledge base of the home care nurse. The rise of an emotional layer beyond the core vocabulary of NIB reveals the contours of the social impact of the pandemic as vocabulary concerning the very human psychological and social impacts enter the knowledge base with terms forming a credo of moral fiber, hope, dedication and determination.

Identifying the Core Vocabulary for Adults With Complex Communication Needs From the British National Corpus by Analyzing Grouped Frequency Distributions.

Purpose This study is aimed to identify the high-frequency vocabulary (HFV), otherwise termed "core vocabulary" for adults with complex communication needs. Method Three major characteristics of the HFV-a relatively small number of different words (NDW), a relatively high word frequency, and a high word commonality across speakers-were examined so as not to lose any candidate words for the HFV. Specifically, instead of applying the traditionally used cutoff word frequency of 0.5‰, a grouped frequency distribution was used to examine the appropriate frequency ranges to determine the HFV candidates. To improve the representativeness of the HFV across ages, social backgrounds, conversation situations, and topics, 330,000 spoken words of 66 adults (29 men and 37 women; M age = 45.47 years, SD = 16.07) were extracted from the British National Corpus database for analysis. Results A distinct pattern of NDW was observed from the frequency of 0.1‰ in the grouped frequency distribution. In total, 671 words were found to be candidates for the HFV, accounting for 90.94% of the total sample words. After the word commonality analysis indicated at least 80% commonality across speakers, 203 words were selected for the final HFV; accountability was calculated at 80.62%. Conclusions With the innovative word analysis approach, this study provided an HFV list that can be used for a wide range of conversation topics. This method provides a scientific and principled approach to identifying and organizing vocabulary for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention that does not exist in many AAC resources that promote "core vocabulary" with identifying the source for vocabulary selection.

Translating Nonverbal Behaviour in Literature: With Pai-tzu as An Example

Nonverbal behavior plays an important role in literary work but receives little attention in literary translation. Different use of linguistic devices by translators in representing nonverbal behavior of the source text would portray different images of characters. This paper, taking Chinese writer Shen Congwen’s short story Pai-tzu as an example, compares the translation of nonverbal behavior in its two English versions (by Ching Ti and Hsu Kai-yu). It firstly reviews definition and category of nonverbal behavior by scholars in diverse fields, as well as related theories in literature and translation. It then compares the two versions in dealing with the paralanguage and kinesics of the two characters, and explores how the differences between them lead to different features of the characters. This paper comes to the following conclusion: Ching’s version, by the choice of material or behavioral process and illocutionary verbs indicating voice quality, shapes a louder and more dynamic image of the woman, in contrast with a static image in Hsu’s version; the image Pai-tzu is vividly portrayed by Hsu due to the use of marked vocabulary and addition of chronemics and proxemics elements, in contrast with core vocabulary and word omission in Ching’s version; in dealing with body parts as agent metonyms, Ching’s version is closer to the style of the original due to the choice of agent metonyms and material process, while Hsu opts for mental process with human agent.

Patterns of persistence and diffusibility in the European lexicon

AbstractThis article investigates to what extent the semantics and the phonological forms of lexical items are genealogically inherited or acquired through language contact. We focus on patterns of colexification (the encoding of two concepts with the same word) as an aspect of lexical-semantic organization. We test two pairs of hypotheses. The first pair concerns the genealogical stability (persistence) and susceptibility to contact-induced change (diffusibility) of colexification patterns and phonological matter in the 40 most genealogically stable elements of the 100-items Swadesh list, which we call “nuclear vocabulary”. We hypothesize that colexification patterns are (a) less persistent, and (b) more diffusible, than the phonological form of nuclear vocabulary. The second pair of hypotheses concerns degrees of diffusibility in two different sections of the lexicon – “core vocabulary” (all 100 elements of the Swadesh list) and its complement (“non-core/peripheral vocabulary”). We hypothesize that the colexification patterns associated with core vocabulary are (a) more persistent, and (b) less diffusible, than colexification patterns associated with peripheral vocabulary. The four hypotheses are tested using the lexical-semantic data from the CLICS database and independently determined phonological dissimilarity measures. The hypothesis that colexification patterns are less persistent than the phonological matter of nuclear vocabulary receives clear support. The hypothesis that colexification patterns are more diffusible than phonological matter receives some support, but a significant difference can only be observed for unrelated languages. The hypothesis that colexification patterns involving core vocabulary are more genealogically stable than colexification patterns at the periphery of the lexicon cannot be confirmed, but the data seem to indicate a higher degree of diffusibility for colexification patterns at the periphery of the lexicon. While we regard the results of our study as valid, we emphasize the tentativeness of our conclusions and point out some limitations as well as desiderata for future research to enable a better understanding of the genealogical versus areal distribution of linguistic features.

Vocabulary in dialogic reading: implications for AAC

Shared reading is an important context for the development of communication, language, and literacy skills in young children. Research conducted with children who require augmentative and alternative communication has indicated that dialogic reading techniques utilized in shared reading can aid in the development of communication skills. One area that has not been investigated is which words children should have access to when engaging in these types of activities. This study reports the results of an investigation focused on the words 5-year-old children without disabilities said during a dialogic reading procedure that occurred with two books, Corduroy and Whistle for Willie. When reading Corduroy and Whistle for Willie, 59 common words said when reading each book accounted for 62.45% and 64.83% of the total words said, respectively. Many of these words were similar to those identified in studies of core vocabulary across a variety of contexts. For Corduroy and Whistle for Willie, 13 and 11 of these 59 words were directly related to the book, respectively. This accounted for approximately 10% of the most commonly used words for each book. The implications of this finding are discussed relative to vocabulary selection for children with complex communication needs during shared reading experiences.