Vocabulary Frequency

[Sérgio Marinho]

Hello, Salue, Xairete,
Does anyone know about studies or tools regarding the most frequent words in Greek or Latin vocabulary?
Research on modern languages shows that, from the whole lexicon of a language (128.000 entries, in the case of English), only about 2.000 words represent 85-90% of occurences in texts. This highly instrumental group of words is considered to play a key role in reading skills for second language students. At the same time, that's not the equivalent of a basic vocabulary, of the kind found in Greek or Latin courses for beginners.
So I'd be very pleased to know if there's any study or electronic tool for assessing that feature in ancient languages. I'm considering here the essential texts a classics student should be able to read.
Perseus Project offers a tool by which one can look for the word and get the frequencies. But I've found nothing to search for frequency and then get the words.

This is the link to a very interesting text on the subject:
http://www.stets.org.sg/nation_report_web.doc

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Sergio, for Latin, one very valuable resource is a frequency analysis by Diederich - I'm sure there are similar studies for Biblical Greek, and there are frequency vocabulary studies for Homeric Greek, but I don't know about other Greek materials. Here is some information I had posted at my blog about Diederich

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Diederich, The Frequency of Latin Words
Paul Bernard Diederich was a Latin teacher in Columbus, Ohio who devoted considerable study to the frequency of Latin vocabulary in classical and medieval sources. Diederich discovered what he called a "point of diminishing return" for vocabulary study (see graph below). The idea is that for the most frequently used words, it is of real benefit to study the vocabulary for its own sake, since the words are so commonly used. Beyond that point, studying vocabulary on its own terms offers few benefits. So, in order to develop a systematic plan for Latin vocabulary study, frequency lists are invaluable.

Thanks to William Whitaker (author of Whitaker's Words software), you can find Diederich's publications online:

• PREFACE
• THE WORD COUNT
• THE COUNT OF INFLECTIONAL ENDINGS
• THE METHOD OF TEACHING
• THE VOCABULARY OF LATIN LITERATURE
• THE RECOMMENDED BASIC VOCABULARY
• APPENDIXES

James Dee has published these materials in a downloadable Excel spreadsheet, combining Diederich's work with Gonzalez Lodge's Vocabulary of High School Latin.

[Sérgio Marinho]

Thank you, Laura! that's the kind of study I was looking for.

vale!

[Laura Gibbs]

You're welcome, Sergio! Please keep us posted on anything you find for Latin and Greek - it's the kind of thing I'm very interested in, too!

[Seumas Macdonald]

I've seen a little bit of work done on Greek in this area. I'll try and dig it up.

[Aloisius]

This list could probably be useful:

P.B. Diederich, The frequency of Latin words and their endings, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1939; G. Lodge, The vocabulary of high school Latin, Teachers Coll., New York, 1907; L. Delatte, Et. Evrard, S. Govaerts, J. Denooz, Dictionnaire fréquentiel et index inverse de la langue latine, L. A. S. L. A. (Laboratoire d’analyse statistique des langues anciennes), université de Liège, 1981; Maurice Mathy, Vocabulaire de base du latin, Editions O. C. D. L., Paris VIIe, 1952; A basic Latin vocabulary, published for the Orbilian society by Centaur books, 4th impression 1956 (1st impression 1949; D. Gardner, Frequency dictionary of classical Latin words, Stanford University, 1971; G. Cauquil-J.-Y. Guillaumin, Vocabulaire de base du latin (alphabétique, fréquentiel, étymologique), Besançon, ARELAB, 1984 (in edizione italiana: Lessico essenziale di latino, a cura di F. Piazzi, Cappelli, Bologna, 1998); E. Riganti, Lessico latino fondamentale, Pàtron, Bologna, 1989.

Many books contain texts composed only with basic vocabulary (up to 2000 words). You certainly know Orberg's method, which I believe to be the best; but also other courses try to use fundamental words and to repeat them so often in various contexts, that the student learn them almost by natural way.

Stay in touch,

Luigi

[Aloisius]

As far as Greek is concerned, you can use:

G. Cauquil - J. Y. Guillaumin, Vocabulaire de base du Grec (alphabétique, fréquentiel, étymologique), A.R.E.L.A.B., Besançon, 1985; J. Van Baeveghem - L. De Vuyst, Katalogos (Grieks Basisvocabularium), Universa Wetteren 1995; M. Campbell, Classical Greek Prose: A basic vocabulary (A classified list of 1500 of the commonest words), Bristol Classical Press, London 1998.

But also others are available; there are also very useful list of common words classified by subject.