Using English Words
Published on 31. March 1996
Book
Paperback/Softback
VIII, 226 pages
978-0-7923-3711-9 (ISBN)
Description
Using English Words examines the impact that the life histories of people have on their vocabulary. Its starting point is the taken-for-granted fact that the vocabulary of English falls into two very different sections. Randolph Quirk mentions this striking incompatibility between the Anglo Saxon and the Latinate elements in English: "the familiar homely-sounding and typically very short words" that we learn very early in life and use for most everyday purposes; and "the more learned, foreign-sounding and characteristically rather long words" (1974, p. 138). It is mainly the second type of word that native speakers start learning relatively late in their use of English, usually in the adolescent years of education, and keep on learning. It is mainly the one type of word, rather than the other, that ESL/ EFL students have more difficulty with, depending on their language background. This book shows how discursive relations, outside education, 'position' people through their vocabularies. Some are prepared for easy entry into lifetime prospects of relative privilege and educational success, while others are denied entry. In writing this book, I share an aim with other writers who observe the many discontinuities that exist between discursive practices in communities outside schools, and the discursive demands that schools make (e. g. Hamilton et a1. [19931, Heath [1983], Luke [19941, Philips [1983], Romaine [1984], Scollon & Scollon [1981]).
More details
Edition
1995 ed.
Language
English
Place of publication
Dordrecht
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Research
Illustrations
VIII, 226 p.
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
391 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7923-3711-9 (9780792337119)
DOI
10.1007/978-94-011-0425-8
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
P. Corson
Using English Words
Book
08/1995
1st Edition
Kluwer Academic Publishers
€139.05
Article exhausted; check different version
Content
1: The Place of Words in Discourse and in Education.- Discursive Psychology and the Discursive Mind.- Words in Education.- The Sociology of Language.- Words, the Sociology of Language, and Education.- Conclusion.- 2: A Multidisciplinary Review: Words, Culture, Education, and Society.- Insights from the Philosophy of Language.- Insights from Linguistics and from Studies of Literacy.- Insights from the Sociology of Language and Education.- Insights from Psychology and Cognitive Studies of Literacy.- Insights from Anthropology: Cultural Meaning Systems.- Insights from Language in Education.- Insights from Languages other than English.- Conclusion.- 3: The Historical Development of the Lexical Bar.- Before the Renaissance Period.- The Renaissance Period.- Into the Early Modern Period.- The Nineteenth Century.- A Modern Lexical Bar for English-Speaking Countries.- Conclusion.- 4: Factors Reinforcing the Bar in the Present Day.- Morphological and Phonological Factors.- The Formality and Pseudo-Prestige of G-L Words.- The Genuine Communicative Value of G-L Words.- Sociological and Intrapersonal Factors.- Conclusion.- 5: The Research Studies.- Measuring Instruments.- Research Contexts.- Research Findings: Passive Vocabulary.- Research Findings: Active Vocabulary.- Conclusion.- 6: Using Words in Educational Performance and for Sociocultural Reproduction.- Knowledge on Display.- Cultural Meaning Systems and the Lexical Bar.- High Status Cultural Capital, Formality, and Specialist G-L Words.- High Status Linguistic Capital and Sociocultural Reproduction.- Conclusion.- 7: Morphology and the Mental Lexicon.- Psycholinguistics and Discursive Psychology.- Seminal Studies of Morphology and the Mental Lexicon.- Orthographic Processing: Reading and Writing.- Phonological Processing: Speaking and Listening.- Evidence from Languages other than English.- Semantic Factors in Word Processing.- Experience in Word Learning and Use: Language Awareness.- Conclusion.- 8: Difficulty in Lexical Access: The Lexical Bar.- The Concrete-Abstract Continuum.- Low Imagery and Low Frequency.- Morphological Complexity.- The Role of Shape and Sound in Activating Words.- The Role of Meaning in Activating Words: Semantic Transparency.- Processing Difficulties: Patterns of Interference.- The Four Language Modes: Word Learning.- Conclusion: The Lexical Bar.- 9: Changing Practices: Further Research, Equity Matters, and Other Lexical Bars.- Words in English as a First Language.- Valuing Vocabulary Differences.- Words in English as a Second or Foreign Language.- Changing Practices: Oral Language and Literacy.- Equity Factors outside Language: Gender and Race.- Language Awareness and Learning Other Languages.- Are There Lexical Bars in Other Languages?.- Conclusion.- References.