1887
Volume 41, Issue 2
  • ISSN 0378-4169
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9927
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Lexical frequency is one of the major variables involved in language processing. It constitutes a cornerstone of psycholinguistic, corpus linguistic as well as applied research. Linguists take frequency counts from corpora and they started to take them for granted. However, voices emerge that corpora may not always provide a comprehensive picture of how frequently lexical items appear in a language. In the present contribution I compare corpus frequency counts for English and Polish words to native speakers’ perception of frequency. The analysis shows that, while generally objective and subjective values are related, there is a disparity between measures for frequent Polish words. The direction of the relationship, though positive, is also not as strong as in previous studies. I suggest linking objective with subjective frequency measures in research.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/li.00021.brz
2019-02-04
2025-02-18
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alderson, J. C.
    2007 Judging the frequency of English words. Applied Linguistics, 28(3), 383–409. 10.1093/applin/amm024
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm024 [Google Scholar]
  2. Baayen, R. H.
    2008Analyzing Linguistic Data: A Practical Introduction to Statistics Using R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511801686
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511801686 [Google Scholar]
  3. Balota, D. A., Paul, S., & Spieler, D. H.
    1999 Attentional control of lexical processing pathways during word recognition and reading. InS. Garrod, & M. Pickering (Eds.), Language Processing. East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press Ltd.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Balota, D. A., Pilotti, M., & Cortese, M. J.
    2001 Subjective frequency estimates for 2,938 monosyllabic words. Memory & Cognition, 29, 639–647. 10.3758/BF03200465
    https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200465 [Google Scholar]
  5. Balota, D. A., Cortese, M. J., Sergent-Marshall, S., Spieler, D. H., & Yap, M. J.
    2004 Visual word recognition of single-syllable words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133(2), 283–316. 10.1037/0096‑3445.133.2.283
    https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.133.2.283 [Google Scholar]
  6. Balota, D. A., Yap, M. J., Cortese, M. J., Hutchison, K. I., Kessler, B., Loftis, B., Neely, J. H., Nelson, D. L., Simpson, G. B., & Treiman, R.
    2007 The English Lexicon Project. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 445–459. 10.3758/BF03193014
    https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193014 [Google Scholar]
  7. Baroni, M., & Evert, S.
    2005 Testing the extrapolation quality of word frequency models. InP. Danielsson, & M. Wagenmakers. (Eds.) Proceedings of Corpus Linguistics 2005.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Brysbaert, M., Buchmeier, M., Conrad, M., Jacobs, A. M., Bölte, J., & Böhl, A.
    2011 The word frequency effect: a review of recent developments and implications for the choice of frequency estimates in German. Experimental Psychology, 58(5), 412–424. 10.1027/1618‑3169/a000123
    https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000123 [Google Scholar]
  9. Brysbaert, M., Stevens, M., Mandera, P., & Keuleers, E.
    2016 The impact of word prevalence on lexical decision times: Evidence from the Dutch Lexicon Project 2. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 42, 441–458.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Carroll, J. B.
    1971 Measurement properties of subjective magnitude estimates of word frequency. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 10, 722–729. 10.1016/S0022‑5371(71)80081‑6
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(71)80081-6 [Google Scholar]
  11. Coane, J. H., & Balota, D. A.
    2010 Repetition priming across distinct contexts: effects of lexical status, word frequency and retrieval test. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(12), 2376–2398. 10.1080/17470211003687546
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17470211003687546 [Google Scholar]
  12. Cobb, T., & Boulton, A.
    2015 Classroom applications of corpus analysis. InBiber, D., & Reppen, R. (eds.) The Cambridge handbook of English corpus linguistics, 478–497. 10.1017/CBO9781139764377.027
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139764377.027 [Google Scholar]
  13. Coxhead, A.
    2000 A new academic word list. TESOL quarterly, 34(2): 213–238. 10.2307/3587951
    https://doi.org/10.2307/3587951 [Google Scholar]
  14. De Groot, A. M.
    1992 Determinants of word translation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18(5), 1001–1018.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. De Groot, A. M., Borgwaldt, S., Bos, M., & Van den Eijnden, E.
    2002 Lexical decision and word naming in bilinguals: Language effects and task effects. Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 91–124. 10.1006/jmla.2001.2840
    https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.2001.2840 [Google Scholar]
  16. De Groot, A. M.
    2011Language and cognition in bilinguals and multilinguals: An introduction. New York: Psychology Press. 10.4324/9780203841228
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203841228 [Google Scholar]
  17. Desrochers, A., & Bergeron, M.
    2000 Valeurs de frequence subjective et d’imagerie pour un echantillon de 1,916 substantifs de la langue francaise. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 54(4), 274–325. 10.1037/h0087347
    https://doi.org/10.1037/h0087347 [Google Scholar]
  18. Fischer-Baum, S., Dickson, D., & Federmeier, K.
    2014 Frequency and regularity effects in reading are task dependent: Evidence from ERPs. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 29(10), 1342–1355. 10.1080/23273798.2014.927067
    https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2014.927067 [Google Scholar]
  19. Gernsbacher, M. A.
    1984 Resolving 20 years of inconsistent interactions between lexical familiarity and orthography, concreteness, and polysemy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 256–281. 10.1037/0096‑3445.113.2.256
    https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.113.2.256 [Google Scholar]
  20. Gries, S. T. & Divjak, D.
    2012Frequency effects in language learning and processing. Volume1. Berlin: De Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110274059
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110274059 [Google Scholar]
  21. Inhoff, A. W. & Rayner, K.
    1986 Parafoveal word processing during eye fixations in reading: Effects of word frequency. Perception & Psychophysics, 40, 431–439. 10.3758/BF03208203
    https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208203 [Google Scholar]
  22. Jiang, N.
    2012Conducting Reaction Time Research in Second Language Studies. New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Leech, G. N.
    1992 Corpora and theories of linguistic performance. InJ. Svartvik (Ed.), Directions in Corpus Linguistics, 105–22. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110867275.105
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110867275.105 [Google Scholar]
  24. Mandera, P., Keuleers, E., Wodniecka, Z., & Brysbaert, M.
    2015 SUBTLEX-PL: Subtitle-based word frequency estimates for Polish. Behavior Research Methods, 47(2), 471–483. 10.3758/s13428‑014‑0489‑4
    https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-014-0489-4 [Google Scholar]
  25. McEnery, T., & Wilson, A.
    1996Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. McEnery, T. & Hardie, A.
    2012Corpus Linguistics: Method, theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. McGee, I.
    2008 Word frequency estimates revisited – a response to Alderson (2007). Applied Linguistics, 29(3), 509–514. 10.1093/applin/amn026
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amn026 [Google Scholar]
  28. Oakes, M. P.
    1998Statistics for corpus linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Okamoto, M.
    2015 Is corpus word frequency a good yardstick for selecting words to teach? Threshold levels for vocabulary selection. System, 51, 1–10. 10.1016/j.system.2015.03.004
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.03.004 [Google Scholar]
  30. Oxford 3000™ Word List
    Oxford 3000™ Word List. Oxford University Press.
  31. Reynolds, B. L.
    2015 The effects of word form variation and frequency on second language incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(4), 467–497. 10.1515/applirev‑2015‑0021
    https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0021 [Google Scholar]
  32. Ringeling, T.
    1984 Subjective estimates as a useful alternative to word frequency counts. Interlanguage Studies Bulletin, 8(1), 59–69.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Schad, D. J., Risse, S., Slattery, T., Rayner, K.
    2014 Word frequency in fast priming: Evidence for immediate cognitive control of eye movements during reading. Visual Cognition, 22(3), 390–414. 10.1080/13506285.2014.892041
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2014.892041 [Google Scholar]
  34. The British National Corpus, version 2 (BNC World)
    The British National Corpus, version 2 (BNC World) 2001 Distributed by Oxford University Computing Services on behalf of the BNC Consortium. URL: www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/
  35. Thompson, G., & Desrochers, A.
    2009 Corroborating biased indicators: Global and local agreement among objective and subjective estimates of printed word frequency. Behaviour Research Methods, 41(2), 452–471. 10.3758/BRM.41.2.452
    https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.2.452 [Google Scholar]
  36. Van Heuven, W. J. B., Mandera, P., Keuleers, E., & Brysbaert, M.
    2014 SUBTLEX-UK: a new and improved word frequency database for British English. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67(6), 1176–1190. 10.1080/17470218.2013.850521
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2013.850521 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/li.00021.brz
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/li.00021.brz
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): corpus linguistics; English; Polish; research design; subjective estimation; word frequency
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error