English is not only a complex sound-spelling system, posing a potential challenge for learning to read (Seymour, 2007), it is also a large language, rapidly assimilating words from all over the globe. Linguist David Crystal (1987, 1995) estimated at least a million 'words' in the English language. Read Crystal's brief report; note that he disagrees with most estimates in terms of the size of the language and how many 'words' people know. The folks at Oxford University Press take a more conservative position, yet they acknowledge the size of the English language, relative to other written languages. Such differing views are due to methodology: Counting words is a slippery business, as explained by Michael Quinion at World Wide Words. According to Global Language Monitor, as of January 1, 2012, there were 1,013,913 words in the language, but many experts contest this "finding" due to methodology. Based on their Web-sweeps, this same Austin-based group of "language monitors" suggest that English is twice the size of Mandarin and five times the size of French. This too has been contested. See brief video below, aired June 4, 2009.
The size of any language is only an estimate. In this BBC podcast, Paul Payack, President of Global Language Monitor, and Benjamin Zimmer, consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary and producer of Visual Thesaurus, debate the merit of counting words. Zimmer argues against the accuracy of any minute-by-minute word tally. His point is well taken.
Such debate aside, the language is large. The good news is that related words can be studied in morphological families, in effect, condensing the task somewhat. Morphological families of words share a common morpheme. For example, port is a Latin root meaning 'to carry.' Its broader morphological family includes more than a dozen words, called derivatives: porter, portable, import, importation, export, exportation, transport, transportation, transporter, deport, deportee, support, (here, sup- is really sub-, assimilated) supportive, insupportable, portage, etc. The core concept of 'to carry' manifests itself more or less transparently in each derivative. This family also includes the inflection ports.
Explore morphological families of words and isolate the shared morpheme. Include the element of context, vital to vocabulary study. Teach students to decipher unknown word meanings when reading independently by merging context clues with morpheme clues, as described below.
Limitations: Morphemic analysis is most effective if the morphological family is large. When the unknown word belongs to a small family, we must hope for explicit context clues. For example, the word stringent belongs to a small morphological family; its meaning is not internally apparent. Because stringent is academic and abstract, this brief vocabulary video might provide a good introduction to the word. Reinforce the video with further study, use it in peer conversations, and examine the word in varied context, distributed over time.
Given the scope of the language, it makes sense to explore individual words and word families. This can begin in the primary grades with word families like sun, sunning, sunned, sunshine, sunscreen, suntan, sunny, sunnier, sunniest, etc.
The size of any language is only an estimate. In this BBC podcast, Paul Payack, President of Global Language Monitor, and Benjamin Zimmer, consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary and producer of Visual Thesaurus, debate the merit of counting words. Zimmer argues against the accuracy of any minute-by-minute word tally. His point is well taken.
Such debate aside, the language is large. The good news is that related words can be studied in morphological families, in effect, condensing the task somewhat. Morphological families of words share a common morpheme. For example, port is a Latin root meaning 'to carry.' Its broader morphological family includes more than a dozen words, called derivatives: porter, portable, import, importation, export, exportation, transport, transportation, transporter, deport, deportee, support, (here, sup- is really sub-, assimilated) supportive, insupportable, portage, etc. The core concept of 'to carry' manifests itself more or less transparently in each derivative. This family also includes the inflection ports.
Explore morphological families of words and isolate the shared morpheme. Include the element of context, vital to vocabulary study. Teach students to decipher unknown word meanings when reading independently by merging context clues with morpheme clues, as described below.
The explorers had to portage their canoes through forest and across field. After several hours, the weary travelers finally reached the nearest river. For the next four weeks, water would carry their burden.Help students resolve the meaning of portage by examining the external context clues and the internal morpheme clues. Note the context clues that help convey the meaning of portage. Teach students to look in every surrounding sentence for context clues. Then, circle the root port and write 'to carry' in the margin. Help students merge the clues to infer the meaning of portage. As for usage, explain that portage is typically used in the context of carrying boats to navigable water, not when we carry a grocery bag, for example.
Limitations: Morphemic analysis is most effective if the morphological family is large. When the unknown word belongs to a small family, we must hope for explicit context clues. For example, the word stringent belongs to a small morphological family; its meaning is not internally apparent. Because stringent is academic and abstract, this brief vocabulary video might provide a good introduction to the word. Reinforce the video with further study, use it in peer conversations, and examine the word in varied context, distributed over time.
Given the scope of the language, it makes sense to explore individual words and word families. This can begin in the primary grades with word families like sun, sunning, sunned, sunshine, sunscreen, suntan, sunny, sunnier, sunniest, etc.
References
Crystal, D. (1987). How many words? English Today, 12, 11-14.
Crystal, D. (1995). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language. Cambridge University Press.
Seymour, P. H. K. (2007). Early reading development in European orthographies. In M.J. Snowling and C. Hulme (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (pp. 296-315). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
