Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

This feeling may be unreliable, because we have no
reason to suppose the same words are learned at (say)
age 2 by black children in American cities and white
children in English cities and children in the Australian
outback.  There was in approx.1930 a reform movement called
Basic English that sought to refine the language in
ways that would facilitate universal communication
in English, with a standard vocabulary of fewer than
2000 words.  This may meet your need for practical
purposes.  If unsuitable, you should probably look at
the professional literature of psychologists specializing
in childhood learning.  You may find this literature
is multilingual.

I think you are looking for an "ear" vocabulary rather than a "eye"
vocabulary.
They eye vocabulary during the first 4 years of school is less than
half that of the ear vocabulary.

There is quite a bit of variance in the reported number of words that
children understand.  This reflects both the differences in children
and differences in how the data was acquired.

I would think that the ear vocabulary of 4 year old inner city kids
would be about the same as the ear vocabulary of suburban kids.  It
starts to depart after this age.

Basic English has very little to do with the vocabulary of children or
word frequency.  It is more of a logical exercise. What are the
essential words to say everything that can be said. It is useful
because a BASIC dictionary will not use low frequency words to explain
other low frequency words.

One can compare the first 1000 words in the BASIC word list with the
list of 1000 high frequency words in the Collins COBUILD list.  There
will be overlap but they will not be identical.  The Collins list is
generated by counting words that are most likely encountered in 10
million or so words in print.

ogden.basic-english.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_English
http://www.collins.co.uk/corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx
http://literacyconnections.com/Dolch.php
http://literacyconnections.com/Dolch1.html  (the Dolch list of 230
words in children's lit)

We can enable our students to greatly increase their reading efficiency
when we teach them to read half or more of the words they encounter in
a quick and automatic manner: That is, as word-signs.

The basal readers and the Dr. Seus series were based on repeating high
frequency words. After repeated exposures, students would begin to
recognize the word as a meaning sign or semagram.  Whole word advocates
see no need for phonics until one starts to teach writing.

You can probably guess correctly at many of the most common words in
our written language, such as: the, a, is, of, to, in, and, I, you, and
that. You may also want to refer to lists assembled by Dolch or by Fry,
Kress, and Fountoukidis.

"Amazing, isn't it? We have over a half-million words to communicate
with, but half of everything we write and read depends on only 0.02
percent--on only those 100 most frequent words." - Frank B. May in
Reading as Communication

One debating point is whether or not someone who can read 1600 common
words as sight-words or word-signs can also be considered semi-literate
or a borderline illiterate.
There are cases where 16 year olds can read material written at a 3rd
grade level but cannot make sense of material written at a 5th grade
level. Most newspaper articles are written at a 5th grade level.  1600
high frequency words is enough to read over 80% of what is written in
the newspaper.  The issue is, is this enough.  Does the inability to
read 20% of the less frequently used or multisyllable words handicap
the reader to the extent that they cannot function in society.

Many people who read 1600 words or less cannot write a simple letter.

--Steve  stbett@yahoo.com
www.foolswisdom.com/~sbett

----
(DON)  This feeling may be unreliable, because we have no
reason to suppose the same words are learned at (say)
age 2 by black children in American cities and white
children in English cities and children in the Australian
outback.  There was in approx.1930 a reform movement called
Basic English that sought to refine the language in
ways that would facilitate universal communication
in English, with a standard vocabulary of fewer than
2000 words.  This may meet your need for practical
purposes.  If unsuitable, you should probably look at
the professional literature of psychologists specializing
in childhood learning.  You may find this literature
is multilingual.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

---
(SB)  Here are the first 60 words in the Fry list
This is from a PDF file so it is a little messed up.
The second spelling is a Unifon keyboard spelling - a phonemic entry
system for American English.  D=/D/ in SAMPA the initial sound in *the.
U=@ or V in SAMPA or both sounds in the word *abut.  /ubut/ in Unifon.

Fry 1000
Order Archaic Unifon
1 the Du  (?U)
2 the DE  (thee)
3 of uv
4 and and
5 a u (if pronounced uh)
6 to tU (too and two would be spelled the same)
7 in in
8 is iz
9 you yU  (? also available)
10 that Dat
11 it it
12 he hE
13 was wuz
14 for fxr   (SAMPA fO@`)
15 on xn   (some say on or aan)
16 are or   (or = Am. short o and ah)
17 as az
18 with wiT
19 his hiz
20 they DA
21 I I
22 at at
23 be bE
24 this Dis
25 have hav
26 from from
27 or xr
28 one wun
29 had had
30 by bI
31 word wcrd
32 but but
33 not not
34 what hwut
35 all xl
36 were wcr
37 we wE
38 when hwen
39 your yCr
40 can kan
41 said sed
42 there Der
43 use yUz
44 an an
45 each EK
46 which hwiK
47 she SE
48 do dU
49 how hq
50 their Der
51 if if
52 well wil
53 up up
54 other uDcr
55 about ubqt
56 out qt
57 many menE
58 then Den
59 them Dem
60 these DEz

I'd be very curious as to your purpose for this list. Would you mind
letting us know what you're doing with it?

Thanks.

Try a google for "early language aquisition English list"  for some
leads.

While not exactly what you're looking for :

Mapping Words to the World in Infancy: Infants' Expectations for Count
Nouns and Adjectives
Amy E. Booth
Journal of Cognition and Development
2003, Vol. 4, No. 3, Pages 357-381
(doi:10.1207/S15327647JCD0403_06)

Words and Sounds in Early Language Acquisition. Charles A. Ferguson.
Carol
B. Farwell. Language, Vol. 51, No. 2, 419-439. Jun., 1975.

Words and Sounds in Early Language Acquisition: English Initial
Consonants in the First Fifty Words. ... - Get It! @ Queen's
CA Ferguson, CB Farwell - Language, 1973 - eric.ed.gov

Language Acquisition
Steven Pinker
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Py104/pinker.langacq.html

may be of some help.  If you "really' need it call the local university
and ask for the psycholinguists or developmental psychologists on
faculty.  Someone there should know what exists.

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada