Word Families Research Articles

Antioxidants: A Hot Controversy Defused by Cool Semantics.

Recent years have witnessed a rather controversial debate on what antioxidants are and how beneficial they may be in the context of human health. Despite a considerable increase in scientific evidence, the matter remains highly divisive as different pieces of new data seem to support both the pro- and the anti-antioxidant perspective. Here, we argue that the matter at the heart of this debate is not necessarily empirical but of semantics. Thus, the controversy cannot be resolved with the traditional tools of natural sciences and by the mere accumulation of new data. In fact, the term "antioxidants" has been part of the scientific language game for a few decades and is nowadays used differently in the context of different scientific disciplines active at different levels of scientific complexity. It, therefore, represents not a single expression but an entire family of words with distinctively different connotations and associations. The transcendent use of this expression from a basic to a more complex discipline, such as going from chemistry to physiology, is problematic as it assigns the term with connotations that are not corroborated empirically. This may lead to false claims and aspirations not warranted by empirical data. Initially, health claims may not even be indented, yet, on occasion, they are welcome for reasons other than scientific ones. To resolve this debate, one may need to refrain from using the term "antioxidants" in disciplines and contexts where its meaning is unclear, limit its use to disciplines where it is essential and beneficial, and, in any case, become more specific in such contexts where its use is warranted, for instance, in the case of "dietary antioxidants".

Turkish EFL learners’ knowledge, perception, and production of suprafixes as part of lexical competence

Vocabulary and grammar are essential to language proficiency (Richards, 2015). Some word families and grammatical categories can only be distinguished by prosodic properties such as suprafixes. In English, specific noun/adjective-verb pairs, sometimes called disyllabic words, receive primary stress on different syllables. Typically, nouns receive trochaic stress, while verbs receive iambic stress. Research shows that suprafixes are difficult for language learners from diverse linguistic and prosodic backgrounds. Given the scarcity of research in specific contexts (e.g., Turkish EFL), this study explored Turkish EFL learners’ suprafixational knowledge, perception, and production. Participants were B1-level preparatory school students of a prominent state university. Data were collected through a test of knowledge (n=110), a test of perception (n=80), and a test of production (n=50). Results showed poor knowledge, perception, and production of suprafixes among Turkish EFL learners. Minor variations in suprafixational competence were observed in males and females. Additionally, different noun-verb pairs posed a challenge for both genders. The results were discussed, and recommendations for future research were made. The study concludes that Turkish EFL learners must receive suprasegmental training focusing on suprafixes.

Examining lexical profile in general-audience English podcasts: A close replication of Nurmukhamedov and Sharakhimov (2021)

Abstract We closely replicated Nurmukhamedov and Sharakhimov (2021), which was the first study to examine the lexical profile of general-audience English podcasts. Nurmukhamedov and Sharakhimov (2021) found that podcast listeners should have a knowledge of the most frequent 3,000 word families and 5,000 word families, respectively, plus proper nouns, marginal words, transparent compounds, and acronyms in order to achieve good and high-level listening comprehension. We followed the methods and procedures of the initial study with a much larger corpus. Specifically, a total of 8,862 podcast transcripts sampled from 12 general-audience podcast programs were used to compile the 14-million-word corpus. Results of the study confirmed Nurmukhamedov and Sharakhimov's (2021) findings in the vocabulary size required to understand general-audience English podcasts. However, some minor differences pertaining to individual podcast programs were revealed, indicating that the sampling of data had an effect on the lexical demand. These findings provide solid evidence to support the validity and generalizability of the initial study's findings. Implications for second language teaching and learning are also discussed.

Diminutives in the word family with the base word “старый” (old)

Diminutives in the word family with the base word “старый” (old)

The role of context in the word family debate

There has been debate regarding how to define the lexical unit for the receptive skills, with different levels of inclusiveness being possible depending on learner proficiency and pedagogical or research purpose. The most frequently-used definitions for L2 reading are the lemma, flemma, and Bauer and Nation's (1993) level-6 word family (WF6). When WF6 is used, it is assumed that if one family member is known, unfamiliar members can be understood when encountered in meaningful contexts. Past investigations of this assumption have been criticized for assessing knowledge of morphologically-related words only in isolation or in sentence-length contexts. The present study addressed this concern by examining Japanese university students' ability to understand related words in isolation, in limited-context sentences, and in page-length passages. The relationship between baseword and derivational form knowledge was weak, and the level of contextualization had little effect on this relationship. These findings corroborate past findings and support the use of limited-context assessment in research on the word family and the relationship between vocabulary and reading.

АДАМДЫН ФИЗИОЛОГИЯЛЫК АБАЛЫН, ЭМОЦИЯСЫН ТУЮНДУРГАН ЭТИШТИК АНТОНИМДЕР (А.Жакыпбековдун чыгармаларынын негизинде)

In the realm of general linguistics, groups of words signifying various scenarios of object and phenomenon interactions, verbs, exhibit a greater morphological complexity compared to word families. They constitute a substantial portion of a language's vocabulary. Our aforementioned article yields the same conclusion. Specifically, when investigating antonyms within the artistic language of the esteemed writer A. Dzhakypbekov, verbal antonyms were found to be prevalent. The content of our scholarly work encompasses antonymous verbs that convey shifts in the emotional experiences of the characters in the work (including weeping, laughter, joy, sadness, positive and negative emotions, etc.), as well as diverse situations pertaining to their physiological state, movements, and actions involving the human body and its organs. Examples related to this word category were scrutinized in terms of morphological composition, antonym formation methods, and classification.

Knowledge of English Affixes in Thai EFL Learners of Science and Language Programs

This study investigated the knowledge of affixes on vocabulary development among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, focusing on the differentiation between students studying science and those studying the language. Affix knowledge, encompassing both prefixes and suffixes, is essential for expanding word family knowledge, serving as a cognitive bridge to proliferate word family members. To explore this, 111 secondary school students from a semi-urban Thai school, split into 53 science and 58 language program students, were assessed through receptive and productive affix knowledge tests. The findings reveal that science program students outperformed their language counterparts in receptive affix knowledge tests. Additionally, results indicated a learning continuum in affix acquisition, with students showing better average performance on receptive tests compared to more complex productive tasks. Notably, affix knowledge concerning prefixes was superior to that of suffixes across both test types. Moreover, the correlational analysis revealed a medium to strong relationship between English affix knowledge and vocabulary knowledge. The findings also suggest that suffix knowledge has a greater impact on productive vocabulary than on receptive vocabulary. Regression analysis supports the correlation results, highlighting that a deeper understanding of affixes is linked to stronger vocabulary knowledge in both comprehension and usage. These results suggest a structured progression in affix learning, from recognition to production, and underline the significance of affix knowledge in vocabulary expansion for EFL learners. The study emphasizes the need for further research into the mechanisms of affix acquisition and its role in language learning curricula.

Technical vocabulary in government spoken communications: The team of five million in bubbles, PPE and CBACs

AbstractThe New Zealand government delivered regular 1 p.m. televised COVID‐19 briefings from March 2020. These events had a crucial communicative function and were usually headed by top government and medical officials. This study focuses on technical vocabulary in a corpus made up of these briefings, including single words (grouped into technical word families) and acronyms (e.g., bubble and PPE) as well as the most frequent two to five‐word multiword units (MWUs; e.g., case numbers, genomic sequencing, and chains of transmission) containing at least one technical single‐word family member. The corpus consists of 20 prepared speeches: 10 each in 2020 and 2021 by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director‐General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield (50,782 tokens). The results showed that 6.02% of the single‐word families (e.g., outbreak(‐s), contact(‐s/‐less)) in the texts were technical, which may present a challenge for comprehension. Unsurprisingly, the Director‐General of Health used more technical vocabulary than the Prime Minister. The top 20 MWUs containing technical vocabulary were identified in the corpus. Most were two‐word collocations (e.g., negative test, testing centre/s, and number of tests). Implications for identifying and dealing with technical vocabulary in both government communications and language education are discussed.

The space of word families with the base words MOUSE and RAT by the beginning of the 21st century

The space of word families with the base words MOUSE and RAT by the beginning of the 21st century

Which components of word knowledge do EFL learners learn?

Abstract Vocabulary research provides valuable information on the construct of word knowledge (WK), and suggests ways to develop language learners’ lexicon, arguably, the backbone of communication. The present study explores EFL students’ vocabulary learning behavior; more specifically, the aspects of WK components they intentionally focus on when learning new words. Data was collected from 536 undergraduate students in an EFL context. Our findings revealed that EFL students’ vocabulary size was roughly 5,000 word families, considerably less than the number advocated for academic studies. Regarding the various aspects of WK, the top three components that the participants with larger vocabulary sizes primarily focus on were a word’s meaning in L2, spelling, and pronunciation, whereas for those students with a smaller vocabulary size, the top three choices were meaning in L1, spelling and meaning in L2. This intentional focus on separate aspects of WK, especially the meaning-form link in L2, might instigate further progress for the former group, and the lack thereof may inhibit learning opportunities for the latter. Exploration of the processes of vocabulary learning will guide teaching practice, and materials design. It may also call for adjustments in curricula as our understanding of vocabulary acquisition processes evolves.

The Impact of ChatGPT on the Development of Vocabulary Knowledge of Saudi EFL Students

This research was piloted to systematically compare the impact of ChatGPT-generated exercises versus traditional exercises on Saudi EFL students’ vocabulary size and the strength of word families. It aimed to answer the following questions: 1) To what extent does the integration of ChatGPT-generated exercises impact Saudi EFL students’ vocabulary size of word families? 2) To what extent does the integration of ChatGPT-generated exercises impact Saudi EFL students’ vocabulary size and strength of word families? This research holds significance because it provides educators with empirical results of the impact of ChatGPT’s role and function on the second language vocabulary development process. Sixty male Saudi students at Jouf University were selected by stratified random sampling. The design of this research is experimental. Consequently, samples were randomly assigned to different experimental conditions and groups (i.e., control and treatment groups). Computer-Adaptive Test of Size and Strength, as developed by Laufer and Goldstein (2004), was administered to both groups at the beginning and end of their studies in the IELP course with an interval of four months. The collected results from all participants (N=60) from both groups and in both intervals (i.e., pre-test and post-test) were clearly and concisely imported to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS. Multivariate Analysis of Variance was conducted. Results revealed that Saudi EFL students’ vocabulary development improved significantly in both groups. However, participants in the experimental group who experienced ChatGPT-generated exercises notably surpassed that of the control group in terms of vocabulary size and strength of word families.

The Word Family with the Headword <i>Tutor</i> in the Modern Russian Language

This article provides a detailed description of the family of lexemes derived from the headword tutor (‘t’yutor’) that are commonly used to refer to people, features, actions, processes, or phenomena in the current education landscape of Russia. Such new words have become increasingly popular, yet poorly covered in lexicographical sources on the Russian language. Here, the analysis is based on available dictionary entries, the Russian National Corpus, academic publications on educational practices, and mass media texts. The semantics and functioning of the headword tutor were established. Its high derivational, combinability, and syntagmatic potentials were revealed. The methods used include continuous sampling, analysis of dictionary entries, and descriptive survey. Based on the results obtained, the word-formation chains and paradigms were identified. Furthermore, the derivational meanings and the ways to create neologisms with the headword tutor were outlined.

Swedish word family resource

Abstract The article introduces a novel lexical resource for Swedish based on word family principles. The development of the Swedish Word Family (SweWF) resource is set into the context of linguistic complexity in second language acquisition. The SweWF is particularly appropriate for that, given that it contains lexical items used in second language corpora, namely, in a corpus of coursebook texts, and in a corpus of learner essays. The main focus of the article is on the construction of the resource with its user interface and on its applicability for research, although it also opens vast possibilities for practical applications for language learning, testing and assessment. We demonstrate the value of the resource through several case studies.

A Vocabulary Analysis of ‘Life’ and ‘New Headway’ Textbooks: Vocabulary Coverage, Frequency, and Repetition

Despite the recognition of the role of textbooks as primary sources of word development, little research has examined three key vocabulary-related aspects (coverage/load, frequency, and repetition) across two globally used commercial English language textbooks, in this case Life and New Headway. This study adopted a corpus-based approach to analyze all the lexical items appearing in each of the two students’ main textbooks, along with the accompanying workbooks, on the basis of the three word-related aspects given above. Particularly, it compared the 95% and 98% lexical coverage of the two textbooks, and the frequency and repetition of high-frequency words across both textbooks. The findings revealed that students using these textbooks would need to develop knowledge of between 2,000 and 3,000 word families to generate an acceptable understanding of their content. The largest number of running words across the Life and New Headway textbooks belonged to the high word frequency group, and approximately 50% of these words were repeated 15 times or more within each textbook. The study concludes with a discussion of several pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research.

Слова со сложными основами как члены словообразовательного гнезда в немецком языке (на примере гнезда с вершиной “lieben”)

The study aims to identify the word-formation, semantic and stylistic features of words with complex stems belonging to the word family with the verbal base word “lieben” in the German language. The paper examines in detail the formation of words according to parts of speech, finds polysemous units among them and determines how their meanings developed, as well as the type of polysemy. In addition, the author drew attention to the spheres of functioning of these words in speech. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the author is the first to describe words with complex stems belonging to the word family comprehensively, from different positions. As a result of the study, it was found that compound nouns are the most numerous class of compound words and blends in this word family. Compound words, or composites, are formed by compounding, blends are formed by blending. According to their semantic structure, words with complex stems are monosemants, only a small number of them have four and two meanings. Words with complex stems of this word family both denote common concepts and are terms in certain branches of science, such as biology, botany, psychology, astronomy, mythology, etc.

Poetic and theatrical occasionalisms: Creation of new morphologically complex words by Joseph von Eichendorff, Johann Nepomuk Nestroy, Peter Handke and Arno Schmidt

This contribution characterises and differentiates the poetic occasionalisms in the form of new morphologically complex words created by the early romantic German lyrical poet Joseph von Eichendorff, by the Austrian Nobel Prize winner for literature Peter Handke and by the extravagant German prosaic author Arno Schmidt and the occasionalisms created by the most famous Austrian comedy writer Johann Nepomuk Nestroy.The concept and term occasionalism has been founded by the Russian pioneer of stylistics Erik J. Chanpira (1996, see § 2) and defined as a newly created morphologically complex poetic word destined to be used with a literary function only once for a single passage and which is not taken over by anybody else. This definition holds for the authors investigated, except Eichendorff who reuses occasionalisms, which may be also reused by other lyrical poets of the same period or even later.The main part (§ 3) consists of the discussion of 17 criteria for characterising and differentiating the occasionalisms studied. These are productivity of word formation, literary functions, main content, single use vs. reuse of them, consequences of the noun bias of German and of the preference for binary relations, size of the word families of compound constituents (especially of the first constituent), the degree of poetic licence, semantically coherent vs. incoherent combination of words within a compound, embedding into the cotext and into the situational context, gapping constructions and their make-up, preference for compounding vs. derivational morphology.The conclusion and outlook (§ 4) present proposals how literary studies may profit from investigations of poetic and theatrical occasionalisms, which represent the highest degree of language creativity of literary authors. We urge that theatre productions should highlight occasionalisms and report that Nestroy’s German occasionalisms are generally better translated into English by programs of machine translation then by human translators.

MORPHONOLOGICAL PHENOMENA IN THE ENGLISH SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL VOCABULARY

The purpose of this article is the study of morphonological phenomena in the word formation of the English language of science. Morphonology is a relatively new discipline, and before proceeding to the study of specific material. The authors consider it necessary to acquaint the reader with its main provisions. Morphonology word formation of modern English scientific and technical literature contributes to the standardization of terminological systems based on the mutual influence of the general standard language and the language of science as its functional type. It should be noted that there is no strict dependence between the parameters of word families and modifications of the basis, except for one thing: there is no change of the basis in the adverbial direction of the derivative. Morphological modifications of the producing base in one direction or another, as a rule, are obligatory, but optional. The scientific value is that the wide prevalence of morphological phenomena in the word formation of the English language puts forward the provision on taking into account morphological modifications in the producing basis in the formation of producing words, which is very important in the process of teaching professionally-oriented scientific English. The practical value of this research is that special research in the field of teaching reading literature in the specialty is the main purpose of teaching a foreign language to scientific and technical workers and students of non-linguistic universities. The article concludes that the practice of teaching foreign languages shows that the use of word formation achievements as one of the linguistic disciplines greatly facilitates learning a foreign language. The research uses a comparative method, transformational, descriptive, and semantic. The results of the study indicate the regularity and wide prevalence of morphonological modifications in the generating basis for the formation of derived words in the process of teaching English.

Русская пищевая метафора как объект идеографической лексикографии

The article presents the stages of the development of domestic ideographic lexicography associated with the emergence of dictionaries of different types, organized in accordance with the semantic connections and thematic commonality of interpreted units. The dictionary description of figurative words and expressions of the Russian language, motivated by names of objects and phenomena in the sphere “Food”, is based on the existing experience of an ideographic representation of the material, taking into account its conceptual relevance and discursive nature. Dictionaries compiled under the guidance of Dr. Elena Yurina demonstrate two approaches to the ideographic description of the figurative lexical and phraseological field “Food”. The three-volume Dictionary of Russian Food Metaphor (Tomsk, 2015-2019) is built according to the nesting principle: the arrangement of dictionary entries reflects the structural and semantic connections of linguistic units and the semantic unity of the original motivating images; the distribution of lexical-phraseological nests corresponds to the logical-conceptual division of the sphere “Food” into the thematic areas “Dishes and Products”, “Gastronomic Activities”, “Properties of Food”, “Subject of Gastronomic Activities”, “Kitchen and Kitchen Utensils”, “Routine and Organization of Nutrition”. The macrostructure of the World in the Mirror of Food Metaphor dictionary is built on an ideographic principle: the names of sections and subsections into which dictionary entries are grouped designate the spheres of extra-linguistic reality whose objects and phenomena are figuratively characterized through food metaphor. The formation of the classification scheme of the ideographic dictionary was carried out by an inductive method through a semantic and cognitive analysis of figurative words and expressions included in the dictionary; denotative areas of application of metaphorical names were determined. The synoptic scheme of the dictionary includes five sections, within which subsections are distinguished: (1) Person: Appearance, Gender and Age Characteristics, Organism, Physical Actions, Psyche, Thinking, Character and Behavior, Speech, Social Status, Professional Activity; (2) Society: Politics and Armed Conflicts, Economy, Culture, Interpersonal Relations, Social Activities, Life Experience, Social Communication; (3) Material World: Living Nature, Natural Facts, Artifacts, Physical Phenomena and Processes, Properties of Material Objects, Sound, Smell and Taste; (4) Abstract Concepts: Space, Time, Measure, Value, Existence; (5) Communicatemes. The order of the sections in the dictionary is determined by the quantitative criterion. Most of the figurative units characterize phenomena in the spheres of “Person” (40%) and “Society” (37%); the remaining categories are represented by a smaller number of figurative nominations: “Material World” (14%), “Abstract Concepts” (7%), “Communicatemes” (2%). A distinctive feature of the dictionaries discussed in the article is the explanation of figurative representations typical for Russian linguistic culture, demonstrating analogies between certain phenomena of reality and various culinary objects realized in a complex of figurative words and expressions. Such formulations are placed in a separate dictionary area, which completes the presentation of each word family of the thematic dictionary and each subsection of the ideographic dictionary. The interpretation of a typical figurative representation in the ideographic dictionary includes the name of the object of figurative signification, the name of the gastronomic phenomenon associated with it, the basis of metaphorical assimilation, as well as examples of figurative units expressing this representation. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Teaching practices and perspectives regarding word counting units

The selection of an appropriate word counting unit (WCU) for the purpose of second/foreign language vocabulary acquisition (SLVA) in the last decade has become a very important and relevant topic in academic circles. However, few studies address on-the-ground teaching practices and perspectives. This mixed-approach study, conducted through an online questionnaire, collected both quantitative and qualitative data from 30 ESL/EFL teachers in Japan. The questionnaire surveyed their vocabulary teaching experience and views regarding five categories of WCUs: all word tokens (i.e., All Forms and Meanings (AFM)), plemma, lemma, flemma, and Word Family (WF). The online survey revealed that most participants (i.e., those who were not aware of SLVA research and recent teaching practices) had limited experience and knowledge regarding WCUs and their impact. Another important finding is that although the WCU category participants were most experienced with is the WF (i.e., root/basic word lists), the WCU they have the highest pedagogical regard for is the lemma which considers parts of speech (POS) in vocabulary instruction and learning, followed closely by the plemma which additionally considers the various meanings words can take on, and also irregular inflectional patterns (e.g., irregular verb past tenses and past participles), and to a lesser extent the flemma which does not consider POS nor the various meanings and irregular inflectional patterns of words in vocabulary instruction.

Rodzina słowiańskich wyrazów dźwiękonaśladowczych opartych na pierwiastku *gra-. Słowotwórstwo i semantyka

Words containing the sound imitation element *gra-, extracted from dictionaries of all Slavic languages and dialects are presented. Their word‑forming development is discussed from interjection through verbs calling the making of this interjection or sounds reminiscent of it, to the names of the activist, i.e. the person who makes this interjection. Then the semantic development of the discussed words is presented. The basic meaning is ‘voice of a crow’, from which the utterance of such or similar voice developed, and then the name of the one who uttered that voice. The second basic meaning in this word family is the sound of something heavy falling on a hard surface. In addition to these basic meanings, which result directly from the association with the sound heard as a gra-, there are more than a dozen secondary meanings, developed in different directions from the basic ones. Formally, this family of words is model. In terms of semantic, however, it is very extensive. A comparative method was used.