Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English: Based on the British National Corpus

321 Pages·2001·40.17 MB·English

by  Geoffrey Leech

Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English

Word Frequencies in
Written and
Spoken English
baselt on the British National Corpus
GE()PFREY LEE(:lI
P~-\UL l{AYSON
ANDREvV \\TILSON
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LONDONAND NEWYORK
Firstpublished2001 byPearsonEducationLimited
Published2014byRoutledge
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Notices
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searchandexperiencebroadenourunderstanding,changesinresearchmethods,
professionalpractices,ormedicaltreatmentmaybecomenecessary.
Practitionersandresearchersmustalwaysrelyontheirownexperienceand
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thematerialherein.
ISBN 13:978-0-582-32007-9 (pbk)
BritishLibrary CataloguinginPublicationData
A elP cataloguerecordfor thisbookcanbe obtainedfrom the BritishLibrary
LibralYofCongress CatologinginPublicationData
Appliedfor
Contents
Symbolsandabbreviations Vll
Listofinterestboxes Vlli
Forel1Jord LX
Explanatorynotesonlvords nlarked*in thelists XIV
Introduction
1.TheBritishNationalCorpus (BNC) 1
2. Guidelinesusedfor makingthelists 4
3.Theplanofthebook 10
4. Processingthe dataoftheBNC 11
5. Dangersofover-interpretation 19
6. Interestboxes 20
AppendixA. TheUCRELC6Tagset 20
1. Frequenciesinthe\",TholeCorpus (SpokenandWrittenEnglish)
List 1.1.Alphabeticalfrequencylistfor the\vholecorpus (lemmatized) 25
List 1.2.Rankfrequencylistfor thewhole corpus (notlemmatized) 120
2. Spokenand\VrittenEnglish
List2.1 Alphabeticalfrequencylist: speechv.writing (lemmatized) 126
List2.2 Rankfrequencylist: spokenEnglish (notlemmatized) 144
List2.3 Rankfrequencylist: writtenEnglish (notlemmatized) 181
List2.4Distinctivenesslistcontrastingspeechand\vriting 218
3. Two1VlainVarietiesofSpokenEnglishCompared
List3.1 Alphabeticalfrequencylist: conversationalv. task-orientedspeech
(lemmatized) 223
List3.2 Distinctivenesslistcontrastingconversationalv. task-oriented
speech (notlemmatized) 242
4. Two1vlainVarietiesof\VrittenEnglishCompared
List4.1 Alphabeticalfrequencylist: imaginativev. informative\vriting
(lemmatized) 247
List4.2 Distinctivenesslistcontrastingimaginativev. informative\vriting
(notlemmatized) 266
5. RankFrequencyLists ofWords\vithinWordClasses (Parts ofSpeech)
List5.1 Frequencylistofcommonnounsinthewholecorpus (bylemma) 271
List5.2 Frequencylistofverbsinthewholecorpus (bylemma) 282
List5.3 Frequencylistofadjectivesinthewholecorpus (bylemma) 286
VI Contents
List5.4Frequencylistofadverbsinthewholecorpus (notlemmatized) 291
List5.5 Frequencylistofpronounsinthe"vholecorpus (notlemmatized) 293
List5.6 Frequencylistofdeterminersinthewholecorpus 293
List5.7 Frequencylistofdeterminers/pronounsinthe"\Tholecorpus 293
List5.8 Frequencylistofprepositionsinthe"vholecorpus 294
List5.9Frequencylistofconjunctionsinthewholecorpus 294
List5.10 Frequencylistofinterjectionsanddiscourseparticlesinthewhole
corpus 294
6. FrequencyListsofGrammaticalWordClasses (basedontheSamplerCorpus)
List6.1.1 Alphabeticallistofgrammaticalwordclasses: thewholecorpus
(spokenandwrittenEnglish) 295
List6.1.2 Rankfrequencylistofgrammaticalwordclasses: thewholecorpus 296
List6.2.1 Alphabeticallistofgrammatical"vordclasses: spokenv. written
English 297
List6.2.2 Rankfrequencylistofgrammaticalwordclasses: spoken
(comparedwithwritten) English 298
List6.2.3 Rankfrequencylistofgrammaticalwordclasses:"vritten
(comparedwithspoken) English 299
List6.2.4 Distinctivenesslistofgrammaticalwordclasses: spokenv.written
English 300
List6.3.1 Alphabeticallistofgrammatical"vordclasses: conversationv.
task-orientedspeech 301
List6.3.2 Distinctivenesslistofgrammatical\vordclasses: conversationv.
task-orientedspeech 302
List6.4.1 Alphabeticallistofgrammatical"vordclasses: imaginativev.
informativewriting 303
List6.4.2 Distinctivenesslistofgrammaticalwordclasses: imaginativev.
informativewriting 304
Symbols and abbreviations
indicatesthattheunderscorednumericalvalueis anestimate
*" indicates thatthe preceding,vordrequires some explanation,,vhich is given in
thelistonpagesxiv-xv
precedingorfollo,vingawordindicatesthatthewordisactuallypartofalarger
'orthographicword unit', and,...., markswhere it is attachedto the preceding or
follo,vingword: e.g. lVO"""isthefirst part, and,....,n'tthesecondpart, oflvon't.
BNC BritishNationalCorpus
Abbreviationsforpartsofspeech Abbreviationsin column headers
Adj adjective Disp dispersion (Juilland'sD)
Adv adverb DiCo dispersioninconversation
CIO clauseopener Dilm dispersioninimaginativewriting
Conj conjunction Diln dispersionininformativewriting
Det determiner DiSp dispersioninspeech
DetP determiner/pronoun DiTO dispersion intask-orientedspeech
Ex existential there Di\Vr dispersionin,vriting
Fore foreignword Freq frequency (permillionwords)
Gen genitivemarker FrCo frequencyinconversation
Inf infinitivemarker Frlm frequencyinimaginativewriting
Int interjectionordiscoursemarker Frln frequencyininformative,vriting
Lett letterofthe alphabet FrSp frequencyinspeech
NoC commonnoun FrTO frequencyintask-orientedspeech
NoP propernoun FrWr frequencyin\vriting
NoP- wordwhichisnormallypartof
apropernoun
Num (cardinal) number LL loglikelihood
Ord ordinal PoS partofspeech (,vordclass)
Prep preposition Ra range
Pron pronoun
UncI unclassifiedword
Verb verb (general)
Vl\t1od modalauxiliaryverb
List of interest boxes
A selectionofantonyms (1.1) 30
Thetop 25 citynames (1.1) 40
Countriesandcontinents (1.1) 45
Frequencyofnames ofdays (1.1) 47
Frequencyofkinshipterms (1.1) 72
Livingcreatures (1.1) 75
1vletals (1.1) 78
1vlodalverbs (1.1) 79
Frequencyofmonthnames (1.1) 80
North-south-east-\vest (1.1) 82
Frequencyofnumbers (1.1) 83
Thetop 12personnames (1.1) 87
Timeperiods (1.1) 111
1Vleansoftransport (1.1) 113
Weather (1.1) 117
\Vordlengths (1.2) 121
Past, presentandfuture (1.2) 125
Frequencyofcontractedverbs haveand be(2.1) 130
Two commonswearwords (3.1) 238
Interjections, discoursemarkersandfillers (3.2) 244
Sports (5.1) 272
Adjectivesfor regions andnations (5.3) 287
Colours (5.3) 289
Thetop tvventyfrequencyadverbs (5.4) 292
Foreword
Aglancethroughthepagesofthisbookwillsho,vthatitisanunusualtypeofpublica
tion. Itconsistslargelyoflistsofwordsandofnumbers,andlookslikeacrossbetween
a dictionary and a telephone directory. These two analogies are not too wide ofthe
mark, since this is a reference book: abookto refer to and to browse through, not a
bookto readthrough.
To be moreprecise: this is a,vordfrequencybook, abook,vhichlistswords ofthe
Englishlanguageandgivesinformationabouttheirfrequencyinactualuse. Although
quite a number of\vord frequency books have been published before (see below), a
likelyreactionofthepresent-dayreaderwillbetoask:Whydo,veneedtoknowabout
wordfrequency? Whatisthepointofsuchabook?
There are a number of purposes for \vhich knowledge about word frequency is
needed, andprobablythemostimportantoftheseareeducational.
(a) Educationalneeds
For the teaching oflanguages, ,vhether as amother tongue or as aforeign or second
language,informationaboutthefrequenciesof,vordsisimportantforvocabularygrad
ingandselection.Herefrequencyhasapplicationstolanguagelearninginsuchareasas:
syllabusdesign,materialswriting,gradingandsimplificationofreaders,languagetesting
andperhapsevenatthe(chalkface' ofclassroomteaching.
Historically,thepioneeringimpetus!forfrequencylistings(forexample,E. L.Thorn
dike's Teacher's l;Vordbook) intheearlydecadesofthetwentiethcentury,vasdecidedly
educational-seeThorndike(1921),(1932),ThorndikeandLorge(1944),Lorge(1949).
Itfocusedonthecountingof\vordoccurrencesintextsusedintheeducationofAmer
icanchildren. Latercounts\verebasedalso onmagazines andgeneralreadingmatter.
Amoremodernandsystematicprojecttoobtainfrequencycountsfromchildren'sread
ing materials resulted in the American Heritage ltTord Frequency Book (Carroll et al.
1971). An improved kind ofcount (taking account ofmeaning but ,-vith a smaller
wordlist),primarilyforforeignlearnersofEnglish,ledtothepublicationoftheGeneral
ServiceListofEnglishlVordsbyl\1ichaelWest(1953-basedonworkbeguninthe1930s).
Althoughthesebooks,oldastheyare,havestillnotbeenentirelysuperseded,thelists
oftextsonwhichthefrequencycounts\verefoundedstrikethemodernreaderasdecid
edlydated.Infact,even,vhenthefirstcounts,veremade,theyincorporatedfrequencies
derived from bookswritten manyyears before the nventieth century. These included
suchnineteenth centuryclassics as Lamb's Talesfrom Shakespeare, Austen's Pride and
lOurconcernhereis·withtheEnglishlanguage.Wordfrequencylistshavealsobeenproducedforother
languages,suchasDutch,Italian,Japanese,Latin,RussianandSpanish(seeKennedy1998:16).ForGerman,
Kaeding's monumental work, vvhich is claimed to have employed over 5,000 assistants, dates from the
1890s(ibid).ForSpanishandFrench,the\\TorkofJuillandisparticularlysignificant(seeJuillandandChang
Rodriguez1964,JuillandetaI1970).