Portuguese
High Frequency Words
Sources | Reports
1. Nation, I.S.P. (2001) How many high frequency words are there in English? In M. Gill, A.W. Johnson, L.M. Koski, R.D. Sell and B. Wårvik (eds.) Language, Learning and Literature: Studies Presented to Håkan Ringbom English Department Publications 4, Åbo Akademi University, Åbo: 167-181.
High frequency learning and statistics:
Paul Nation is an American-New Zealander leading linguist researcher, mainly for English as a foreign language. He’s studied word frequency extensively and has published over 100+ articles relating to this linguistic phenomenon. He says that “a much smaller size is needed to read” than we are normally taught in a classroom. Notably, “the most frequent 2,000 words of English plus an [small] academic word list provide coverage of about 87% of general academic text and 91% of an economics test.” Also, this approach combined with proper nouns would be 95% coverage of a text language. More interestingly, he states that “when we look at less formal uses of the language, such as informal conversation, reading newspapers, reading novels, we find that fewer words are needed to get good coverage.”
Nation cites a popular 1956 study (Schonell, Meddleton, and Shaw) that regularly circulates the internet and language learning world: “the most frequent 1,007 word families in their study of the oral vocabulary of the Australian world covered 94% of the tokens [concept representation, short incomplete and conceptual sentences].” The idea that Nation stresses, amongst other linguistic researchers, is to stay relevant when learning a language. He uses a cost-benefit analysis on language learning; similar to the Pareto Principle.
“The cost is the teaching effort required to deal with a certain number of words, for example a group of 50 or 100 words. The benefit is the text coverage provided by each group of words. For example, the most frequent 100 words of English provide about 50% of text coverage. The 21st most frequent 100 words (words with a frequency rank of 2,001–2,100) provide approximately 0.5% of text coverage. Clearly in terms of cost/benefit the most frequent 100 words provide greater benefit than the 21st most frequent 100 words.” In regards to the Pareto principle, it’s crucial to put 80% of your energy into 20% of vocabulary building (the top 2,000 words) in order to achieve efficient comprehension. You don’t need to know the whole language to be able to understand “a lot.” The top 2,000 words will help you get the point to at least communicate with people, enjoy music, read small books, and navigate daily life.
2. Stæhr, Lars Stenius. “VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE AND ADVANCED LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition, vol. 31, no. 4, 2009, pp. 577–607. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44485886. Accessed 23 Apr. 2020.
Using the top 2,000 words in Australian English:
This author dived into the idea of how essential vocabulary is when learning a new language. Often, vocabulary is thrown at student and they are expected to remember it; however, not all of it is as essential as it is believed to be. There are more important words that are used more frequently in languages. Here, the authors show this in the Australian English language but it can be applicable to other languages in the same learning category as well. The author asserts, "Schonell, Meddleton, and Shaw (1956) investigated Australian spoken English and found that 2,000 word families provided as high as 99% lexical coverage of spoken discourse. On the basis of this study, a vocabulary size of 2,000 word families has generally been. Believed to be sufficient for a learner to understand everyday spoken discourse in English. However, a more recent analysis of the Cambridge and Nottingham corpus of discourse in English (CANCODE) conducted by Adolphs and Schmitt (2003) revealed that 2,000 word families provided a lexical coverage of less than 95% and that 3,000 word families would result in a lexical coverage of around 96%.” It is somewhat vague in what lexical coverage exactly means and what these percentages correlate to specifically. If the statistics are regarding comprehension then this is extremely high, but they could by chance only refer to how many words one knows to possibly understand a language at this capacity.
3. Waring, R. and Nation, I.S.P. (1997). Vocabulary size, text coverage and word list. In N. Schmitt and M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 6 – 19). Cambridge: CUP.
How many high frequency words should be learned:
These authors address the importance of learning essential vocabulary and how vital few words are to a whole language. High frequency words are words utilized by speakers in everyday life, depending on the language, is between 2000-3000 words that are essential. There should be a "high priority" placed on these words before moving onto other vocabulary. It is interesting that they address how language classes do not approach the language in this way, spending time on low frequency and ambiguous vocabulary. Instead, strategies should be observed more when looking at a language while already knowing the top 2000-3000 words. These things being: context clues, word parts, flash cards, etc. If students wanted to hypothetically learn more vocabulary outside of this realm then the best way would be through "indirect or incidental learning."
Portuguese Linguistics
Sources | Reports
1. Bateman, Blair E., and Desirée De Almeida Oliveira. “Students' Motivations for Choosing (or Not) to Study Portuguese: A Survey of Beginning-Level University Classes.” Hispania, vol. 97, no. 2, 2014, pp. 264–280. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24368776. Accessed 15 Mar. 2020.
This article discusses a system that describes why people pursue particular languages:
This was an enjoyable read as it discusses the motivations that people have when they want to pursue learning Portuguese. More interestingly, they compare Portuguese as a European language to the other languages in central Europe: French, Spanish, German, Italian. I thought this was a good perspective to have when understand the implications behind why people want to choose this language in particular. People who are most interested in this are generally Spanish speakers, but for a variety of reasons – they are not homogeneous in any way as a group.
However, in the case of learning Portuguese, I wanted to apply the five different categories explained by Zoltán Dörnyei and Kata Csizér: Attitude toward the L2 speakers/community, cultural interest, vitality of the L2 community, milieu, and linguistic self-confidence. Based on my perception, I see this:
1) Personal positive experience with Brazilian-Portuguese people
2) A heavy interest in the culture due to this experience and an interest in heritage
3) There is rich social value to be a part of this group and even economic opportunities
4) Milieu is strong
5) Linguistic self-confidence is high, especially with a background in romance languages
After looking into the graphs that this study offered, it seemed that many people wanted to speak with either their immediate or extended family. This motivation is strong in the Portuguese-language culture, not necessarily the actual social culture in Portugal or Brazil. However, one thing that stood out is that people want to learn in for the sake of economic opportunity that is growing in Brazil. This is similar to why people take courses that directly coincide with business.
As for applying the Pareto principle with this, the 2000 top words would need to be the only necessary tools you need to speak with family or friends. For business, it would likely be more specific vocabulary directed toward that field that still includes the top 2000 words. I wouldn’t expect it to be dramatically more.
2. Stephen Parkinson. “Portuguese Studies: Language and Linguistics.” The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies, vol. 71, 2011, pp. 325–335. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5699/yearworkmodlang.71.2009.0325. Accessed 16 Mar. 2020.
This article explains the defining linguistics, morphology, and phonology of Portuguese:
This does expect some basic level of linguistics. After reading this, I believe that this may be a problem to overcome when diving into basic linguistics of Portuguese. It does take background knowledge. I think I will try to find some videos about the Portuguese syntax trees, morphology, and phonology of Portuguese to explain how it is fundamentally different from other European languages. I may consult some Portuguese and Linguistics friends to further inquire about this.
3. Stephens, Thomas M. “Language Maintenance and Ethnic Survival: The Portuguese in New Jersey.” Hispania, vol. 72, no. 3, 1989, pp. 716–720. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/343531. Accessed 15 Mar. 2020.
This article conveys why Portuguese did not integrate as a language until the 90’s and early 2000’s:
This article summarizes some of the history behind Portuguese immigration and ethnic/linguistic survival in the United States during the 1800’s and 1900’s. I found it interesting that Portuguese was not as embraced as other languages when they first immigrated to America, and I wonder if that has something to do with the Jewish diaspora. I think maybe that’s what the author gave insight on Hebrew schools when discussing Portuguese schools, but it’s something that I can’t confirm. It seems that Portuguese people were much more isolated than other groups, in regards to the tone of this article, and that could be an additional reason why the language did not persevere in America. These communities congregated in parts of New Jersey, as many European immigrants did upon arrival, but it sounds as if Portuguese people were the last to emerge out of the labor workforce due to linguistic capacities. Even the amount of language learning was low in the past, and it is still small until this present day [in 2020]. However, despite the loss of language, it seems that cultural-ethnic relations are still intact but were not discussed in this article. So, I am unsure to what extent they are celebrated or embraced by Portuguese people.
It is important to recognize that essential phrases and meanings have longevity when thinking about adapting to a new culture. Portuguese immigrants did not see as much success in the beginning of their migrant story because they did not intermingle with other cultures that were important to their own survival. Learning English at a quicker rate could have given them more leverage in society. This is seen today with immigrant families who do not have the opportunity or time to learn the native language of the country they reside it – it takes a toll on their daily life to not know the essentials. Obviously, this is what the Pareto Principle tries to achieve, knowing 20% of words in a language will give someone 80% more opportunities in the long-run.
4. Milleret, Margo. “Portuguese Study in Higher Education in the United States.” Hispania, vol. 95, no. 1, 2012, pp. 135–150. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41440367. Accessed 15 Mar. 2020.
This article goes into depth about the demographics of Portuguese classes while highlighting the important of Spanish speakers learning Portuguese:
This was my favorite article that I’ve read so far about the development of Portuguese, likely because it is one of the most recent studies that I found in research. I did appreciate how the made some connections to the other readings that I’ve completed so far, for example, when the author talks about the demographics of where Portuguese is concentrated. Based on what the article provided, it seems as if there has been more dedicated instruction and exposure to the language within American society.
A previous article stated how many Portuguese people kept to themselves when they first migrated, and largely remained monolingual as a class in American society. They did not adapt to certain customs that trapped them in labor jobs, which was ultimately a disservice for their language and culture – you are able to do both. I think certain types of exposure helped more in the U.S., such as Spanish speakers traveling to Brazil then returning to the U.S. with knowledge about the country. There are also large events like Rio Olympics and Carnival that people paid attention to, which exposed them to the culture/language.
It is interesting that a very small percentage of people choose to pursue Portuguese as their first language, it is something that is common amongst multilingual people instead. It seems as if the curriculum differs from other romance languages as well based on these reports – it is much more immersive within the actual culture. I think Portuguese people have a very unique passion for their background as they see it gain more exposure, which excites people. Furthermore, it is important to note the amount of socioeconomic opportunities that coincide with this language and culture as well.
6. “Introduction to Portuguese Grammar” Video by PortuguesePod101
This video gives a basic grammatical structure that is commonly used in Portuguese:
I think we’ve shortly discussed how Spanish and Portuguese intersect with one another. This just shows how common they are on a surface level of statements and descriptions, also, negation. It would be interested to apply this syntax and linguistic idea as a visual that could be helpful for the retention of learning. It’s almost like an exercise or mad libs: here is a grammatical structure, fill in the blanks. It could be extremely helpful for people who lose motivation in language learning because they don’t know how to describe what they want to see or how they feel. It’s smart to start with a structure then fill it in with expressions. In this case, the 20% would be a simplistic grammatical structure in order to community 80% of thoughts, although simple. A majority of language makes up point-blank statements in order to express an abundance of ideas (subject, verb, object).
7. “Structural Ambiguity” Video by Ling Vids
This video uses syntax tree graphics that could be useful for the video series:
This channel formally explains what linguistics can achieve when trying to understand a particular sentence that can have multiple meanings. I mostly wanted to have this to show a moving visual of what syntax trees look like when explaining how a sentence is formed. It definitely doesn’t have to be explained like this, but I really enjoyed the aerial shot and moving of words – it can be digitalized.
Pareto Principle
Sources | Reports
1. Bommier, Antoine, and Stéhane Zuber. “THE PARETO PRINCIPLE OF OPTIMAL INEQUALITY.” International Economic Review, vol. 53, no. 2, 2012, pp. 593–607. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23251600. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.
The economic idea behind the Pareto Principle:
While these authors used the Pareto Principle for its initial economic use, I did understand a little bit more about the reasoning behind it. The beginning of the article discusses what it needs in order to properly thrive: time and some confidence. Applying this principle correctly can optimize one’s time but they must believe that it can despite not seeing immediate results. Of course, this is dependent on one’s circumstances in regards to their free time. Obviously, not everyone has the ability to optimize their time when they don’t have it in the first place. I believe this is what makes the principle difficult to use, even in correlation to language learning which requires an abundance of time (for the average person) to learn at a rapid pace. They give mention to the importance of consistency, and this is probably a better thing to focus on when discussing language learning on social media. Really, with anything, consistency is the key as it is with this 80/20 rule.
2. Gmelch, Walter H. “It's about Time.” Academe, vol. 82, no. 5, 1996, pp. 22–26. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40250985. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.
LOPO and HIPO terminology:
Essentially, this is probably a better article as it intersects education with productivity. It takes two incredibly interesting terms (LOPO, HIPO) and says that it’s important to categorize these in order to create maximum output. However, there are notable time trade-offs that people must recognize in their life in order to create a sufficient output. If someone is able to get minimize LOPO in lacking areas of their life then they will be able to fill that new space in with HIPO essentials. The problem is that people get confused in an effort to balance their life with things that seem important when they are actually just urgent. A “vital few” will create an abundance of productivity, but people must let go of their “trivial many.” Clearly, some of these ideas aren’t resourceful for people who do not have access to the basics of time due to their socioeconomic situations (which is a reality for most educators and students today). As for language learning, don’t be bogged down by all the little nuances of grammar at first – learn words, speak, and write on a consistent basis in order to see growth. This small summary also relates heavily to article 5 at the end of this summary list where it is applied to a few concrete studies.
This definitely intersects to the 80/20 rule in as the 1000-2000 top words in romance languages will allow people to understand 76%-84% of non-fiction, 79.6%-86.1% for fiction, and 87.8%-92.7% of all oral speech (Lingo Mastery).
3. Wilkinson, Leland. “Revising the Pareto Chart.” The American Statistician, vol. 60, no. 4, 2006, pp. 332–334. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27643812. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.
Pareto Principle and North Italy:
This was a rather short article that mostly justifies previous research that is in this word document. Everything else in the article that is unrelated to this task exclusively discusses economics rather than learning strategies. More importantly, an interesting fact is that Juran sought to redesigned Pareto’s distribution chart to make it be more cohesive and effective. As for it actually working, I’m not entirely sure because of my lack of knowledge on Italian history, economics, and modern society. I’m not sure how true it is that the top 20% of Italians hold 80% of wealth.
4. Partin, Ronald. “Time Management.” American Secondary Education, vol. 12, no. 2, 1982, pp. 4–6. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41064296. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.
Time journals and word buckets:
This article also reinforced by the previous research as well, but adds more nuances for people in the world of business. What I found particularly interesting is that the author recommends to keep a “time journal” that has categories: A, B, and C. You’d have to divide things up based on priority and urgency, which is discussed more in depth from the HIPO/LOPO ideas in the previous article. I think this could be a good productivity experiment to organize in this fashion to understand how many things actually matter to a person. In regards to language learning, I think the top 1000-2000 words already does this for people so they don’t need to dig their hands into the entirety of the language. Well, I supposed the top 1000-2000 words is almost the entirety of the language when considering how much you can speak and understand with that amount. I supposed that you can add buckets of words depending on what situations someone may find themselves in when learning a language, that could be a helpful additional point.
5. KO, MYONG HEE. “Glossing and Second Language Vocabulary Learning.” TESOL Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 1, 2012, pp. 56–79. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41576029. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.
Glossing for quick learning:
Okay, this is a super dense article that is trying to conclude what is the best type of method for memorizing, understanding, and using English vocabulary. There are several studies aside from this one that show how different students prefer to see definitions in their own language or in the language they’re learning. The conclusion is that if you learn your target language’s definitions in that language itself, then it will enhance retention and learning. There are books that put the top 1000-2000 words into context using the target language, which is what this study reminds me of. One of the dependents in this text was that it depends who the language learner is as well as their mother tongue. It seemed as if that was an important factor, especially for languages who have different alphabets that do not directly correlate to the English alphabet. More notably, this is most effective for intermediate learners who have previous experience with the language.
As for the 80/20 rule, it’s important to have context for the words you’re learning in order to correctly understand them. This would be something considered in the “vital few” category that could be more helpful than just skimming through new words. I think most language textbooks are adamant about this; however, from my personal experience, I noticed that people get bored with the beginning vocabulary and lack patience. Making their own tailored vocabulary for things that they care about could be extremely useful as I mentioned previously.