Ask-A-Linguist Message Details
| Subject: | Compiling/computing known lexicons by age/education |
|---|---|
| Question: |
One of my acquaintances has a PhD in Linguistics; however, he's not available to answer my questions at this time. How do linguists (and others?) find out how many words different groups (distinguished by age and education) know? Thank you! Sincerely and respectfully, Dave Tozier wryryt@yahoo.com |
| Reply: |
As Professor Sampson points out, there are many methods for estimating the size of lexicon across an age range or within educational progress ranks, not a single well- standardized method. Notice also that some methods may ask for open-ended responses (such as Sampson's suggested "provide a definition"), where others ask for responses from a closed set ("which of the following four words is a synonym for <target word>...."). From other research on cognition and psycholinguistics, we know that recognition is easier than recall. In addition you've got a 25% chance of being correct on a closed set of 4 possible responses, whereas an open-ended answer has no guarantee of success - a much higher bar, if you will - a more restrictive measure. In what context did you see some estimate for size of lexicon? Did you ask yourself whether it was a comparable estimate to another, perhaps looking at quite a different age group or otherwise distinct population? There may be 2 or more different methods in use. Notice also that reading vocabulary may be quite different from speaking vocabulary. Surely there are many terms that you feel comfortable meeting on the printed page which you might never use in your own speech or writing. |
| Reply From: | Nancy J. Frishberg click here to access email |
| Date: | 11-Jan-2013 |
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