The Kinds of Vocabulary

6. The Use of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is basic to communication. If acquirers do not recognize the meanings of the key words used by those who address them, they will be unable to participate in the conversation, and if they wish to express some idea or ask for information, they must be able to produce lexical items to convey their meaning. Indeed, if they know the morphology and syntax of an utterance addressed to them, but do not know the meanings of the key lexical items, they will be unable to participate in the communication 7 . Vocabulary is also very important for the acquisition process. The popular belief is that one uses form and grammar to understand meaning. The truth is probably closer to the opposite: that someone acquires morphology and syntax because he understands the meaning of utterances. Acquisition depends crucially on the input being comprehensible, and comprehensibility is dependent directly on the ability to recognize the meaning of key elements in the utterance. Thus, acquisition will not take place without comprehension of vocabulary 8 . Teachers have never doubted the value of learning vocabulary. They know how communication stops when learners lack the necessary words. 9 So, vocabulary is one of the most important elements of language in order to make a smooth communication and understand the meaning.

7. The Kinds of Vocabulary

Gorrell and Laird said that almost everyone has at least four basic vocabularies. First, he uses a relatively small number of words, which may call the speaking vocabulary. It includes words, which will come to the speaker’s tongue without his thinking much about them. A dull person is 7 Stephen D. Krashen and Tracy D Terrel, The natural Approach Language Acquisition in the Classroom. Britain: Prentice Hall International, 1988, p. 155. 8 Ibid. 9 Virginia French Allen, Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, p. 5 likely to use only a few hundred words in this way; even a moderately articulate speaker uses only a few thousand. Every literate person has a second vocabulary, a writing vocabulary, which includes the words in the speaking vocabulary, plus other words that he can call up. A good writer may employ a vocabulary of ten thousand, twenty- five thousand, and perhaps fifty thousand words. A poor writer, on the other hand, may suffer from a vocabulary little larger than his speaking vocabulary. Every literate person has also a reading vocabulary, made up of words which he would not speak in conversation or use when he writes but which he knows when he sees them written. For most people the reading vocabulary is much larger than either the speaking or writing vocabulary-fifty thousand, seventy-five thousand, a hundred thousand words perhaps more. The fourth vocabulary, the largest of all, we may refer to as the acquaintance vocabulary. It includes the other three, but it includes, also, a considerable number of words which the owner has seen or heard before but does not know much about. He may remember enough about them so that he can usually guess their meaning in context; he has a nodding acquaintance with the words, not much more. Vocabularies of this sort, of course, can be very large, often much larger than the reading vocabulary. 10 Meanwhile, Fries divide vocabulary into two kinds; they are Function and Content Words. The function words are a closed class, that cannot be added, like the prepositions or auxiliaries or modal or any structure words of the language. The content words, on the other hand, can be added to at any times. As new scientific advances that make new words and communication about new inventions necessary. 11 The content words can be divided into three general classes: a Words naming thing, ideas, entitles, that we might call them nouns, b Words 10 Gorrell and Laird, Modern English Handbook, third Edition New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1964, P. 413 11 Marry Finocchiaro and Michael Binomo, The Foreign Language Learner: a guide for teacher, New York: Regent Publishing Company, 1973, p. 86. naming action called verbs, c Words used to describe the qualities of those things or action called adjectives and adverbs 12 . According to Burton there are two kinds of vocabulary used by the people for communications, namely: General and Special Vocabulary. The General Vocabulary is the words used in general; there is no limit of fields or users, general in meaning and use. And the special vocabulary is used in certain field, job, profession or special science. For example: politicians, journalists, and lawyers. All these have specialized vocabulary arising from particular circumstances of their lives and work 13 . Meanwhile Aebersold classifies the vocabulary into: 1 Active Vocabulary that refers to items which the learner can use appropriately in speaking or writing and it is also called as Productive Vocabulary, Although, in fact it is more difficult to put into practice. It means that to use the productive vocabulary, students must know how to pronounce it well. They must know and be able to use grammar of the target language and they also must be familiar with collocation and understand the connotation meaning of the word. This type is often used in speaking and writing skills. 2 Passive vocabulary that refers to language items that can be recognized and understood in the context of reading or listening, and it is also called as Receptive Vocabulary. 14

8. Vocabulary Acquisition