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Vocabulary

A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word vocabulary originated from the Latin vocabulum, meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of language and communication, helping convey thoughts, ideas, emotions, and information. Vocabulary can be oral, written, or signed and can be categorized into two main types: active vocabulary (words one uses regularly) and passive vocabulary (words one recognizes but does not use often). An individual's vocabulary continually evolves through various methods, including direct instruction, independent reading, and natural language exposure, but it can also shrink due to forgetting, trauma, or disease. Furthermore, vocabulary is a significant focus of study across various disciplines, like linguistics, education, psychology, and artificial intelligence. Vocabulary is not limited to single words; it also encompasses multi-word units known as collocations, idioms, and other types of phraseology. Acquiring an adequate vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language.

"Vocab" redirects here. For the song by Fugees, see Vocab (song).

Definitions and usage[edit]

General Definition[edit]

One's vocabulary typically refers to the set of words that an individual knows and uses in a particular language.[1] It is a fundamental aspect of language acquisition and literacy development.

Linguistics[edit]

In linguistics, vocabulary refers to all the words in a language or in a person's lexical repertoire. It encompasses both a speaker's passive vocabulary, which includes the words they recognize or understand, and their active vocabulary, which includes the words they use regularly in speech and writing.[2]

Education[edit]

In the context of education, vocabulary refers to the body of words, including their meanings and use, that a student learns and uses. Vocabulary acquisition is a central aspect of language education, as it directly impacts reading comprehension, expressive and receptive language skills, and academic achievement.[3]

Psychology[edit]

Within psychology, especially cognitive psychology, vocabulary is understood as a measure of language processing and cognitive development. It can serve as an indicator of intellectual ability or cognitive status, with vocabulary tests often forming part of intelligence and neuropsychological assessments.[4]

Computational Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence[edit]

In computational linguistics and artificial intelligence, a vocabulary is a predetermined set of words used for natural language processing tasks, such as speech recognition or text analysis. In machine learning models, the vocabulary is the set of unique words from the training dataset, which forms the basis for feature extraction and model training.[5]

Semiotics[edit]

In semiotics, vocabulary refers to the complete set of symbols and signs in a sign system or a text, extending the definition beyond purely verbal communication to encompass other forms of symbolic communication.[6]

Definition of "word"[edit]

Word has a variety of meanings, and our understand of ideas such as vocabulary size differ depending on the definition used.


The most common definition equates words with lemmas (the inflected or dictionary form; this includes walk, but not walks, walked or walking). Most of the time lemmas do not include proper nouns (names of people, places, companies, etc.). Another definition often used in research of vocabulary size is that of word family. These are all the words that can be derived from a ground word (e.g., the words effortless, effortlessly, effortful, effortfully are all part of the word family effort). Estimates of vocabulary size range from as high as 200 thousand to as low as 10 thousand, depending on the definition used.[7]

Vocabulary in an individual[edit]

Productive and receptive knowledge[edit]

The first major change distinction that must be made when evaluating word knowledge is whether the knowledge is productive (also called achieve or active) or receptive (also called receive or passive); 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 usually the larger of the two. For example, although a young child may not yet be able to speak, write, or sign, they may be able to follow simple commands and appear to understand a good portion of the language to which they are exposed. In this case, the child's receptive vocabulary is likely tens, if not hundreds of words, but their active vocabulary is zero. When that child learns to speak or sign, however, the child's active vocabulary begins to increase. It is also 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 that 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 that has been used correctly or accurately reflects the intended message; but it does reflect a minimal amount of productive knowledge.

Degree of knowledge[edit]

Within the receptive–productive distinction lies a range of abilities that 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:

Focal vocabulary[edit]

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. 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.[36][37]

Bilingual lexical access

Differences between American and British English (vocabulary)

: The ability of an individual to speak or perform in an acquired language

Language proficiency

Lexicon

: Many of the longest words in the English language

Longest word in English

Mental lexicon

Barnhart, Clarence Lewis (ed.) (1968). The World Book Dictionary. Chicago: Thorndike-Barnhart,  437494

OCLC

Brysbaert M, Stevens M, Mandera P and Keuleers E (2016) How Many Words Do We Know? Practical Estimates of Vocabulary Size Dependent on Word Definition, the Degree of Language Input and the Participant's Age. Front. Psychol. 7:1116. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01116.

Flynn, James Robert (2008). Where have all the liberals gone? : race, class, and ideals in America. Cambridge University Press; 1st edition.  978-0-521-49431-1 OCLC 231580885

ISBN

Lenkeit, Roberta Edwards (2007) Introducing cultural anthropology Boston: McGraw-Hill (3rd. ed.)  64230435

OCLC

Liu, Na; Nation, I. S. P. (1985). (PDF). RELC Journal. 16: 33–42. doi:10.1177/003368828501600103. S2CID 145695274.

"Factors affecting guessing vocabulary in context"

Miller, Barbara D. (1999). Cultural Anthropology(4th ed.) Boston: Allyn and Bacon, p. 315  39101950

OCLC

Schonell, Sir Fred Joyce, Ivor G. Meddleton and B. A. Shaw, A study of the oral vocabulary of adults : an investigation into the spoken vocabulary of the Australian worker, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1956.  606593777

OCLC

West, Michael (1953). A general service list of English words, with semantic frequencies and a supplementary word-list for the writing of popular science and technology London, New York: Longman, Green  318957

OCLC

I.S.P. Nation's extensive collection of research on vocabulary.

Bibliography on vocabulary

An bibliographic database on vocabulary acquisition at Swansea University.

Vocabulary Acquisition Research Group Archive