Vocabulary: content and function words, active and passive vocabulary, techniques and strategies for enriching vocabulary.

                                           VOCABULARY                  

 English is a living language and so it is difficult to be precise about the exact number of words in the language. New words are constantly being added while others disappear through lack of use. We each have our own personal vocabulary which is unique to us. Obviously there is a great deal of overlap from one person to another, but the exact set of words that one person has in his vocabulary will be distinct from the next person’s.

Vocabulary is the set of lexical items in a language; it is also called the ‘lexicon’. The term lexicon is known in English from the early 17th century, when it referred to a book containing a selection of a language’s words and meanings; arranged in alphabetical order. The term itself comes from Greek word ‘lexis’ . It has taken on a more abstract sense, especially within linguistics, referring to the total stock of meaningful units in a language-not only the words and idioms, but also the parts of words which express meaning, such as the prefixes and suffixes.

                  Words are referred to as ’the building blocks of language’. We need a rich supply of words so that we can select the correct tools for the job as we would with any other task we tackled. A good vocabulary is that which (a) fills our needs, (b) gives us confidence, (c) helps us to understand, (d) is varied and (e) is exact.

TYPES OF VOCABULARY:

                   On the basis of its application, vocabulary is divided into two types: Active Vocabulary and Passive Vocabulary.

Active Vocabulary:

Active vocabulary consists of those words over which one can use in his speech and writing. He knows the meaning of those words accurately. Active vocabulary refers to the productive side of language. It consists of the words one uses confidently because he understands their meanings and usage.

                In order to give the proficiency in spoken and written language, words must continuously be added to the active vocabulary of the students. Active vocabulary of a language calls for:

1. The use of right word in right place.
2. The spontaneous recall of words.
3. Grammatical accuracy i.e., use of correct tenses, inflections and word order.
4. In speech, fluency and ability to reproduce correct sounds, pronunciation, intonation, rhythm etc.

Passive vocabulary

The Passive Vocabulary consists of those words, meaning of which can be understood when they appear in speech or writing of others but which we cannot use in our own speech and writing because we are not fully conversant with them. In passive vocabulary, the person does not know the precise meaning of a particular word and he does not make use of those words in communication. Sometimes he can understand the meaning of that word only to a certain extent depending on the contest. Passive vocabulary refers to the receptive side of language. Passive vocabulary calls for:

1. A recognition of vocabulary in speech or writing.
2. An acquaintance with major grammatical items or forms.
3. The skill of stimulating rapidly the sense of large word groups.
4. It is observed that an undergraduate student has 3000 to 5000 active vocabulary whereas the same student has 5000 to 10,000 passive vocabulary.

            A good communicator tries to turn passive vocabulary into active vocabulary. It is obvious that words from passive vocabulary shift to active vocabulary after some years. There is no hard and fast rule of acquiring active vocabulary. The one and only requirement is the student’s enthusiasm and effort with some proper directions.

The teaching of vocabulary has not been accorded a place of prominence in the syllabus at any stage of education. It has been relegated to a secondary status in favour of syntax of the university level. The undergraduate student must have enough foundation both in terms of vocabulary and syntax, of the two vocabulary is more fluid hence it should be given as much importance as the choice of structures in English curriculum. Vocabulary teaching is very essential especially where students  are from regional medium schools and have limited exposure to English.

A language teacher must know the techniques of teaching vocabulary which he should apply in classrooms. Before applying the techniques of teaching vocabulary, a language teacher must know the principles of teaching vocabulary. The principles are:

1.To find out the frequency of the word.

2.To find out the applicability of the word related to different contexts

3.An easier word must be taught first.

4.sequencing or gradation or ordering of items is necessary.

5.Improvement or enrichment of vocabulary refers to both active and passive vocabulary.

6.Guessing the meaning from the context or acquaintance with the usage.

                              In English, like in any other foreign language, some words are easier to learn than others. Easiest of all are the words more or less identical to the students’ native language, like, for instance, the word “vocabulary.” However, students might be trapped in their confidence with which they memorize such identical words, since English has a list of some problematic words, called “false friends”. These false friends are words identical in form to certain Romanian words, but completely different in meaning. An example of this would be “sensible.” While many students might confidently translate this word simply “sensible,” they will be astonished to find out that, the Romanian equivalent for “sensible” is in fact “rational,” while the English equivalent for “sensible” is “sensitive.” This demonstrates the crucial importance of allotting a special lesson for these false friends and of encouraging students to practice them as often as possible.

 Another aspect that makes English vocabulary difficult is the pronunciation of certain words. Research shows that words that are difficult to pronounce are more difficult to learn. Many learners find that words with clusters of consonants such as “health” or “crisps” are problematic. Length or complexity of the words is another characteristic of the difficulty of English vocabulary. A  long word will be more difficult to memorize than a short one. Also, variable stress of words such as “necessary” and “necessity” can add to their difficulty. The meaning of the words is another controversial feature of the English vocabulary. When two words overlap in meaning, students are likely to confuse them. An example in this case would be the difference between “make” and “do.” These words have the same meaning, but are used in different expressions. You “make a decision”, but you “do homework.” Students might find the use of these two words confusing.

In the language acquisition process, children learn to imitate their parents’ use of language. They start out by babbling, trying to utter simple sounds of consonants and vowels. As they grow up they start to mix and match those sounds to make a word. But before they can achieve an adult grammar (a fully developed mental grammar), there’s a critical stage, which all children have to encounter—the telegraphic stage, in which they attempt to put simple words into a sentence, like “Mom give cookie” (‘Mom, give me a cookie.’) and “Doggie not bite” (‘The dog doesn’t bite.’). The words they use in this stage are called content words.

CONTENT AND FUNCTION WORDS

Content words are lexical morphemes that have a semantic content; i.e. they have a particular meaning on its own. They are usually open class words because new content words can be easily included to the language. For example, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are content words, because they all refer to semantic concepts. However, we also consider derivational affixes and negation as content words because they change the meaning of a base form.

On the other hand, function words or grammar words are lexical morphemes that have a grammatical relation rather than refer to a semantic concept. They just have to be there to make a grammatical sentence. For instance, articles, conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliaries, interjections, particles, and inflectional affixes are function words.

Most of the time, it’s quite easy to distinguish the content words from the function words. Words that refer to an object, an abstract idea, an action, an attribute, and a manner are said to be content words. Words that don’t refer to any meaning but must be there to make a grammatical sentence are function words. But some words appear to be both. For example, ‘will’ as a noun (content) means a motivation to do something, while as an auxiliary (function) conveys the futurity of an action. In this case, we say that the word ‘will’ is in the process of grammaticalization.

Grammaticalization is a process of language change whereby a content word (or a cluster of content words) becomes a function word. This process takes place when a content word is used so frequently that it starts losing its core meaning over time.

Grammaticalization is characterized by the following processes.

• Semantic bleaching (desemanticization): a word loses its semantic content. As a content word is frequently used, it establishes a structure with surrounding words and becomes a partial function word. As its functionality strengthens, the semantic content gradually disappears.
• Morphological reduction (decategorization): a word changes its content-bearing category to a grammatical structure. This process is a result of semantic bleaching.
• Phonetic erosion: a word loses its phonological properties as a free morpheme to become a bound morpheme, such as I’m going to > I’m gonna > I’mma. Bernd and Kuteva (2002, 2007) proposed four kinds of phonetic erosion: the loss of phonetic segments (being full syllable), the loss of suprasegmentals (stress, tones, or intonation), the loss of phonetic autonomy (being an independent syllable), and phonetic simplification.
• Obligatorification: when a content word is used in a specific context in a specific way, it may become more grammatical over time. [obligatory means necessary].

In the process of grammaticalization, a content word transforms itself into a function words over time. Hopper and Traugott (2003) proposed the cline of grammaticalization as follows.

content word ⇒ function word ⇒ clitic (contraction of full word) ⇒ inflectional affix

The above process is also known as the cycle of categorial degrading (Givon, 1971; Reighard, 1978; Wittmann, 1983)For example, the auxiliary ‘will’ follows through the cline of grammaticalization shown below.

In Old English, the verb willan means to want or to desire. The verb was then grammaticalized to become the auxiliary will in Middle English and Present Day English. Later due to its frequent use, it becomes contracted into clitic ’ll. It’s assumed that it may become an inflectional affix indicating the future tense some time in the future.

Unidirectional Hypothesis. Most linguists assume that process follows Hopper and Traugott’s (2003) cline of grammaticalization. However, this assumption is challenged by very rare counterexamples of degrammaticalization, where several function words become content words under specific circumstances. For example, preposition ‘up’ is degrammaticalized to become a verb, as in “The company upped our salaries by 10%”.

TECHNIQUES & STRATEGIES OF ENRICHING VOCABULARY

At the level of students:

1. Keep a Dictionary and Thesaurus Within Easy Access. When it comes to expanding your vocabulary, the dictionary and thesaurus are your primary tools. 
2. Make Reading a Habit. Reading is one of the most effective ways to improve your vocabulary — and it’s enjoyable. The more you read, the more unfamiliar words you’ll uncover.
3. Watch Movies With Subtitles. Watching movies is another fun and great way to improve your English vocabulary. 
4. Learn About Root Words. 
5. Practice Word Association. Word association is the act of connecting a new word with something more familiar to you so you can easily remember it.
6. Play Games to Expand Your Vocabulary. Memorizing new words doesn’t have to be boring. 

At the level of teachers:

1. Showing pictures or using Audio-visual aids: To a certain extent, the language teacher should have the mastery over the skill of drawing so as to teach vocabulary. He should produce some picture of animals, birds, fruits, vegetables etc. The teacher can also use some other audio-visual aids to teach vocabulary properly.
2. Showing real objects or models: The objects which the teacher can easily bring in the classroom should be shown to the students. For example, stick, stone, maps, clock etc.
3. Miming or performing an action: To teach some words, the teacher should actually perform the action like walking, writing, laughing etc. in the class.
4. By framing illustrative sentences: These sentences should be such that meaning of the words flashes from the context clear as crystal. For example, the train left the station at 7.55. I could not catch it. I missed the train.

          It should be always kept in mind that this type of sentences should be simple in structure.

5. By associating with other words: The teacher should try to associate a new word with the word that is already known to the students. This can be done by asking and giving examples of synonyms and antonyms. Referring to a thesaurus is, too, a useful method.
6. Identifying the lexical set: Ability to identifying the lexical set is very essential in teaching vocabulary. For example, accelerator, breaks are the words of the some lexical set.
7. Breaking words into component units: The meaning of words should be explained by breaking words down into their component units and providing the meaning of each unit separately, and then giving the combined root + affix meaning. For instance, words such as ‘inject’, ‘eject’, and ‘deject’ could be explained as follows:

              Inject = in(inside) + ject (throw) = to insert, as in ‘inject a syringe’.

       Eject =e (away) + ject(throw) = to throw out, as in ‘eject oneself from an airplane’.

  Deject= de(down) + ject(throw)= to throw down’ to make low in spirits.

  Despite some limitations, the analytical method will at least give us the core meaning from which other meanings have diverged.

8. Exposure to different contexts: Learners should be exposed to different kinds of contexts in which a word may be used, to ensure its proper usage. One context does not ensure mastery of the word. The teacher should give proper guidance to the students to work with the new words actively, regularly and systematically.
9. Selecting the bases and their order of presentation: The selection of bases and their order of presentation should be made in accordance with their frequency of use and proliferation, i.e., those that are more prolific should be introduced first. It has been asserted that more than 240 words have sprouted out of the Latin word ‘spectare’ meaning to ‘see’.
10. To give some importance on word-formation: The teacher should teach the different affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and their functions should be taught in order to give proper interpretation of a new word. Words can be grouped into clusters on the basis of their affixes. Knowing the meaning of a prefix or a suffix will definitely help learners to understand the meaning of a word.
11. Crossword puzzles: Crossword puzzles help in studying vocabulary. Almost all the English newspapers have crossword puzzles. The teacher should produce adequate crossword puzzles for the sake of teaching vocabulary. This is a useful tool in building one’s vocabulary.
12. Word games: Sometimes the teacher should conduct some word games among the students in the classroom. This will help the students a lot because the process of learning vocabulary becomes an entertaining work.
13. Giving equivalents in mother-tongue: Most of the students may not be acquainted with all the terms in the target language. But those terms can be taught through the medium of their mother-tongue. The barrier of understanding the meaning of some specific words can be removed in this way.
14. Encourage the students to use a dictionary: Students should be always encouraged to use a dictionary. It is always beneficial to use a monolingual dictionary. To get a wide exposure to the language, it is an essential act which the students should be advised to perform.

               These are the basic techniques of teaching vocabulary. A teacher can use various innovative techniques at his will while teaching vocabulary. The vocabulary teaching will become unfruitful until and unless the teacher creates a cozy atmosphere in the classrooms.