Core Concepts Lecture 1 Lexical Frequency

Frequency With a partner or in a small group, discuss: What is the most frequently used word in English? Support your answer. Why do you think that word is the most frequent? The

Frequency How frequent do you think it is? What percentage of written texts is accounted for by ‘the’? This means, in a 100-word section, how many times would you expect to see ‘the’? Is speaking different from writing in this respect?

The answer: ‘The’ accounts for at least 5% of all words used in English. That means that out of every 20 words, you can expect to see ‘the’ at least once (or 5 times every 100 words).

Frequency Now, can you guess the top 10 most frequently used words in English? the of and a to in is you that it http://www.duboislc.org/EducationWatch/First100Words.html

We have seen that ‘the’ accounts for at least 5% of English What percentage do you think the top-ten words account for?

BoE 448,496,824 Frequency Percent 1 the 24,780,121 5.5 2 of 11,559,219 2.6 3       and 10,608,346 2.4 4       a 9,925,232 2.2 5       to 11,218,716 2.5 6       in 8,143,020 1.8 7       is 4,206,880 0.9 8       you 2,248,154 0.5 9      that 4,558,144 1.0 10   it 3,994,942 91,242,774 20.3 BoE = Bank of English (held by Collins Publishing and The University of Birmingham)

The first 100 make up about ________ of all written material, “The first 25 make up about ________ of all printed material in English. The first 100 make up about ________ of all written material, and the first 300 make up __________ of all written material in English. one-third one-half about 65%

Lexical Words and Function Words Function words (often called grammatical words) determiners, pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, prepositions Lexical words (often called content or meaning words) nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

Lexical Words and Function Words We usually say that function words do not actually mean anything. They have functions instead of meanings We use them to help create meaning in a sentence

Function/Grammatical Words How many function words are in this sentence? The cat sat on the mat.

Lexical Words and Function Words In that short sentence, 50% of the words are functional. That means that 50% of the words are lexical. The cat sat on the mat.

Lexical Words and Function Words Look again at the top 10 most frequent words in English (20% or so of English). What do you notice about this list? the of and a to in is you that it Article Preposition Conjunction Preposition/infinitive particle Copula Verb Pronoun Adjective/pronoun pronoun

In the top ten, there are no: Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs The top ten are all function words! Let’s look at the top 25:

Lexical Words vs. Function Words the on These are all function words, too! of are and as Look at the top 100 again and try to find the first occurrence of: a with to his in they A lexical verb is I A noun you at that be it this he have was from for

The First Hundred the this which into its of have she time now and from do has find a or how look long to one their two down in had if more day is by will write did you word up go get that but other see come it not about number made he what out no may was all many way part for were then could on we them people are when these my as your so than with can some first his said her water they there would been I use make call at an like who be each him oil http://www.duboislc.org/EducationWatch/First100Words.html

The first unambiguously lexical verb. be an make been of this each like call and have which him who a from she into oil to or do time its in one how has now is had their look find you by if two long that word will more down it but up write day he not other go did was what about see get for all out number come on were many no made are we then way may as when them could part with your these people his can so my they said some than I there her first at use would water In addition to ‘to possess’, ‘have/had’ can also be an auxiliary verb. Which usage do you think accounts for this position in the list? The first lexical noun The first unambiguously lexical verb.

The First Verb An unambiguously lexical verb does not occur until Said This is interesting because: It indicates (potentially) that reported speech is somehow ‘important’ in English. It is in the simple past tense. What does this indicate about English verb usage, in general?

The First Noun In this list, the first lexical noun is word (30th). In most lists, the first noun is time (68th in this list): Does this tell us anything about the English language or English speaking cultures?

So What? Why is frequency data important? What does it tell us? How can we use frequency data as students? How can teachers use frequency data? How can textbook writers use frequency data?