CC BY
12Language. Text. Society (2015), Vol. 5, No. 1 - P. e50 © Prem Kumar, L. R. 2015
Research article
Vocabulary structure in primary school textbooks in Tamil
L. R. Prem Kumar
LDC-IL Department, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, India E-mail: lrprem90@gmail.com
Reviewing editor: Andrey G. Kirillov _ ,, , . .
Received: 15 February 2015 Acce ted: 15 March 2015 Published online: 1 April 2015
Abstract
The word structure is normally based on the number of letters in a word in the Tamil textbooks and accordingly single letter words to multiple letter words are graded. But this study fully concentrates on the syllabic structure of the word which has resulted in different opinions about the complex or compound structure of words. Based on the syllabic structure of words it is easy to measure the complexity of words and accordingly the selection of words for each standard may be done which on the other hand makes the textbooks easy for the learners. It will facilitate in learning of vocabulary. The syllabic structures are analyzed standard wise and represented by tables for easy understanding of the system of analysis. Moreover, the syllables are analyzed keeping in view the beginning of a word with a consonant or a vowel. This study also proves that there is a link between the difficulty level of learning and the number of syllables as well as the vowel or consonant beginning words. A comparative statement of the syllabic structure in each standard is also given. This paper investigates the frequency of vocabulary patterns used at the primary school level. The vocabulary patterns are dealt with in phonology on the basis of their syllabic and canonical forms. The structure of vocabulary can be classified into the following three types: simple, complex and compound based on their structure. And also this paper gives some ideas of vocabulary analysis for textbooks evaluation.
Keywords
vocabulary; structure; textbook; evaluation; Tamil Corpus; primary school
This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
For citation
Prem Kumar, L. R. 2015. "Vocabulary structure in primary school textbooks in Tamil." Language. Text. Society 5 (1): e50-e67. https://ltsj.online/2015-05-1-premkumar. (Journal title at the time of publication: SamaraAltLinguo E-Journal.)
INTRODUCTION
All languages have a vocabulary, a set of words that is the basis for making and understanding sentences (Miller 1997). Without basic knowledge of that vocabulary, neither language production nor language comprehension would be possible (Anglin 1993). Laufer and Nation (1999) stated that vocabulary provides the enabling knowledge, which is required to be successful in other areas of language proficiency. Thus, this paper discusses on vocabulary awareness as language learning strategy and its two aspects, Morpheme Identification Awareness and Structural Morphological Awareness. Vocabulary is the central core of any language corpus.
Complexity of the Vocabulary in a Textbook
Vocabulary will be difficult, if structures will be complex. Textbook is almost certainly going to be the primary source for vocabulary; teachers should have an objective assessment of the complexity of its vocabulary. The learner-level of the textbook as advised by the syllabus is a good starting point in making such an assessment, but it is only an overall indicator by necessity. When determining the level of a textbook, reviewers consider many features in addition to the difficulty of the vocabulary, such as the syntactic complexity of the language used, the difficulty of the grammatical constructs presented, and the length of both reading and listening texts.
Many textbooks include some sort of listing of the principal vocabulary items encountered in the textbook and this can help determine the suitability of the vocabulary for a given set of learners. However, the contents of such lists still require analysis to be useful intuitions of thirteen difficulties arising from simply perusing the lists are insufficient.
An analysis of all the words present in the textbook, not just those in the vocabulary lists, will provide a complete picture of the vocabulary load of the textbook. Teachers can see how many and which words are in the first one or two thousand most frequent words of any language or which low-frequency words are present and if there are too many of these for the level of the learners. Such data will help inform the teacher whether or not the vocabulary load in the textbook is appropriate for the learners at that level.
Complex words are far more prevalent in the harder books read by third, fourth, fifth standards, etc., than in textbooks for beginning readers, for Examples, the first two standards. As word length increases children must look beyond the rather small letter-sound patterns of phonics to identify the large, multi-letter chunks in complex words. Structural analysis serves the same function in all the standards. When readers use structural analysis they combine phonics letter-sound patterns into large, multi-letter chunks. Children then use this knowledge to decode and learn the complex words that are so common in story and information text beyond the early standards. Complexity will be decided based on word structure. Because of this reason the
textbooks often list words with single letter, two letters, three letters, four letters, etc., which to some extent helps the learners to understand the structure of words. But, normally, the word length is measured with the syllabic structure of the words rather than the number of letters in it. But the teaching and learning is considered the syllabus prescribe the number of letters in a word as the tool to measure the length or difficult level of the words.
Examples:
/ti/ 'fire', /a/ 'cow', /va/ 'come', /po/ 'go', etc. are considered single letter words. /paru/ 'pimple', /karai/ 'bank of a river', /vatai/ 'vada-an eatable', /kari/ 'charcoal', etc., are considered two letter words.
/makan/ 'son', /maram/ 'tree', /patam/ 'picture', /otam/ 'boat', /kottai/ 'fort' etc., are considered three letter words.
/pattam/ 'kite', /vattam/ 'circle', /cattam/ 'sound', /kattam/ 'square', etc., are considered four letter words.
Whereas, if the word length is measured in terms of syllabic structure of words, two letter, three letter and four letter words will fall under disyllabic words only.
Examples: Two letter words
/paru/ 'pimple' CVCV /karai/ 'bank of a river' CVCV /vatai/ 'vada-an eatable' CVCV
/kari/ 'charcoal' CVCV Three letter words
/makan/ 'son' CVCVC
/maram/ 'tree' CVCVC
/patam/ 'picture' CVCVC
/otam/ 'boat' CVCVC
/kottai/ 'fort' CVCCV Four letter words
/pattam/ ' kite' CVCCVC
/vattam/ 'round' CVCCVC
/cattam/ 'sound' CVCCVC
/kattam/ 'square' CVCCVC
All the words are disyllabic with almost all combinations of syllables, namely, open ended or closed syllables. Hence, here, in this study, syllabic structure of words is taken to divide the structure and difficulty level of the vocabulary.
At the same time, the structural analysis by syllables makes it possible for the child to read simple as well as compound words easily. As far as a simple word like / kottai/ 'fort' is concerned the reading of the word goes as the syllable only.
/kot-tai/as two syllabic word and not by letters which is used to spell a word and not to read a word. /kot-tai/ is the way to spell a word. Compound words like /kalpantu/ 'football' and the contractions as single units as /kal-pan-tu/ to read it. The child recognizes compound word /totarvanti/ 'train', suffixes /kaikaj/ 'hands, as meaningful word parts. When a new word doesn't have meaningful parts, the good reader divides it into syllables that, when blended together,yield the pronunciation of the word/vekam-aka/ fast-BEN'.
Understanding word structure helps the child infer word meaning. Inferring word meaning helps the child learn new words. A larger reading vocabulary, in turn, contributes to fluency and comprehension.
Structural analysis is particularly suited for reading complex words in the upper grades. When a word is divided into multi letter parts, there are fewer units to blend than when analyzing a word into phonics letter patterns. With fewer units to blend word identification is faster. When the word parts themselves give the child insight into word meaning, adding new words to the child's reading vocabulary becomes much more efficient. The child who recognizes many word parts has a larger reading vocabulary and better comprehension than the child who recognizes few word parts (Deacon and Kirby 2004; Nagy, Berninger and Abbott 2006).
The following discusses on vocabulary structure and the classification of the vocabulary on the basis of their canonical patterns.
Frequencies of Vocabulary Patterns
The vocabularies may be classified on the basis of their canonical patterns, and also on the basis of their formation. Canonical patterns are classified into consonants and vowels.
Nadaraja Pillai (2012) attributes the reason for this disparity to the dependence of these factors on the 'number of phonemes in the language' and says that 'the length is inversely proportional to the number of phonemes in the phonological system of the language.' And according to researcher the size of the vocabulary of the language depends upon 'the imminent structures of the language and the extra-linguistic causes'.
A word has prefixes and suffixes. The present study considers word form only. It may have prefix and/or suffixes or only root form. The following method issued for data analysis:
The first step in an analysis of the vocabulary in a textbook was to create a corpus consisting of the contents of the textbook. For the present study, selected contents of the primary school Tamil textbooks prescribed by the Government of Tamil Nadu published in 2009 were converted into machine-readable Unicode format doc files so that they could be "read" by the computer program used to analyze them. The entire primary textbooks typed the contents into files using word processing software (Microsoft Word 2010). Data has been analyzed by using the following tools:
Omitted from the textbook corpus were the credits, acknowledgments, introduction, Resources page explaining support materials, two pages of extra vocabulary consisting of days, months, number in the textbooks. The omitted pages were considered to contain supplementary material that not all teachers would be likely to use. And also the poems verses are omitted from the textbook corpus.
The study discusses the techniques and tools used that is adopted for the evaluation of Tamil textbooks at primary school level based on the primary level Tamil textbooks corpus. A tool developed is used to get word structures, namely, i.e. AVJcvConverter. Typed primary textbook corpus was uploaded in this tool one by one (Standard wise). This tool gives the word structure. After getting the result, one word was kept for the analysis and the remaining were deleted.
Examples:
mayil (5), kuyil (10), payil (7), maram (8)
These above words are different but structure is same i.e. CVCVC pattern, word may have 5 or 10 or 7 or 8 frequencies but total word structure frequency is only 30. The study has analyzed with the vowel beginning and consonant beginning syllabic patterns for better understanding of the structures as well as the problems in learning. And also the study have used PERL programme to obtain the frequency and cumulative percentage of words in the corpus.
Vowel Beginning Canonical Patterns
The following tables explain the percentage and frequency of the first 10 high frequency occurring words structure form of vowel initial canonical patterns in the 1st to 5th standard Tamil Textbooks.
First Standard
Table 1.
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 aru VCV 71 14.40
2 elumpu VCVCCV 69 14.00
3 itti VCCV 61 12.37
4 alaku VCVCV 53 10.75
5 art VC 33 6.69
6 iyam VCVC 32 6.49
7 aracan VCVCVC 25 5.07
8 illam VCCVC 18 3.65
9 alamaram VCVCVCVC 16 3.25
10 aippaci VCCVCV 13 2.64
391 79.31
Considering the size of the 1st standard textbook and representative of the table 1 exposes that the number of structure required to cover a particular percentage in the first standard Tamil textbooks is 10 only. 42 vowel initial patterns occur in first standard Tamil Textbook. The Table 1 states that the 391 words out of 493 words cover 10 vowel initial patterns i.e. 77.78%. As one goes down the table one may observe that to reach a particular percentage it needs more and more distinct words in the textbook. The study observes the number of words increases more rapidly to reach higher percentages in the textbook. 42 vowel initial patterns cover 100% structure in first standard Tamil textbook.
The study consider the 20% frequency of the syllable, it seems that the more the number of syllables lesser is the frequency. However, one can also see that the first 10% frequency remains same. This means that the frequency of the syllabic structure is directly proportionate to the learning difficulty.
This also substantiates that the words with lesser number of syllables are to be introduced in the primary classes.
Table 2.
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency
1 aru VCV 71 14.40
2 elumpu VCVCCV 69 14.00
3 ïtti VCCV 61 12.37
4 alaku VCVCV 53 10.75
5 an VC 33 6.69
6 ïyam VCVC 32 6.49
7 aracan VCVCVC 25 5.07
8 illam VCCVC 18 3.65
9 alamaram VCVCVCVC 16 3.25
10 aippaci VCCVCV 13 2.64
11 arampam VCVCCVC 13 2.64
12 oppuravu VCCVCVCV 9 1.83
13 avalotu VCVCVCV 9 1.83
14 ïccamaram VCCVCVCVC 6 1.22
15 eluttukal VCVCCVCVC 6 1.22
16 uruvakku VCVCVCCV 6 1.22
17 ottakam VCCVCVC 5 1.01
18 etuttelutu VCVCCVCVCV 5 1.01
19 elumiccam VCVCVCCVC 5 1.01
20 accitunkal VCCVCVCCVC 4 0.81
459 93.10
Words like /alamaram/ 'banyan tree', /iccamaram/ 'meaning' are compound nouns and /etuttelutuka/ 'take and write down' is a grammatically inflected form are to be carefully introduced in the textbooks. The reason for this would be whether the compound words are to be written separately or together is also a question to be answered by the advisory committee. If they are written separately the syllabic structure will change.
Second Standard
Table 3._
SI. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 amma VCCV 181 17.45
2 etu VCV 172 16.59
3 irantu VCVCCV 98 9.45
4 arici VCVCV 76 7.33
5 otam VCVC 55 5.30
6 ettanai VCCVCV 54 5.21
7 uruvam VCVCVC 49 4.73
8 amirtam VCVCCVC 45 4.34
9 ur VC 33 3.18
10 uncal VCCVC 29 2.80
11 aciriyar VCVCVCVC 28 2.70
12 akarati VCVCVCV 25 2.41
13 aktopar VCCVCVC 22 2.12
14 alaittatu VCVCCVCV 18 1.74
15 uraiyatalai VCVCVCVCV 16 1.54
16 irankinar VCVCCVCVC 15 1.45
17 inippukalai VCVCCVCVCV 14 1.35
18 evvalavu VCCVCVCV 12 1.16
19 o V 8 0.77
20 enkiruntu VCCVCVCCV 7 0.68
957 92.29
It has to be remembered that a comparison of the same with that of the first standard reveal another fact that second standard textbook uses words with lesser number of syllables. When the analysis compare again with the 20% frequency it get a different view.
The longer syllabic structures are due to inflection of verbs and addition of case markers to nouns. For Examples, /alaittatu/ 'it called', /irankinar/ 'he came down' etc. are inflected words and words like /inippukalai/ 'sweets + accusative case Marker', /uraiyatalai/ 'conversation + accusative case marker' and hence the syllabic structure is long. /amma/ 'mother' which represents VCCV pattern and /etu/ 'take' which represents VCV pattern have 181and 172 occurrences respectively because of the usage and the syllabic structure. This means that the disyllabic words have more occurrences than the longer syllabic words.
Third Standard
Table 4.
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 antu VCCV 274 16.07
2 uri VCV 223 13.08
3 apattu VCVCCV 127 7.45
4 arukil VCVCVC 104 6.10
5 unavu VCVCV 103 6.04
6 ippotu VCCVCV 101 5.92
7 itam VCVC 85 4.99
8 alocanai VCVCVCV 66 3.87
9 an VC 64 3.75
10 emarram VCVCCVC 61 3.58
11 ennam VCCVC 56 3.28
12 atikkati VCVCCVCV 43 2.52
13 aravaram VCVCVCVC 38 2.23
14 evvalavu VCCVCVCV 36 2.11
15 appuram VCCVCVC 30 1.76
16 ilakiyatu VCVCVCVCV 20 1.17
17 avalukku VCVCVCCV 19 1.11
18 errukkontu VCCVCCVCCV 17 1.00
19 elumiccam VCVCVCCVC 17 1.00
20 irukkiratu VCVCCVCVCV 16 0.94
1500 87.98
It also reveals the fact as far as third standard textbook is concerned in the 10% frequency words which have two or three syllables only have high frequency of occurrences. When the study compare this with that of 20% frequency, the fact is substantiated.
It is to be noted here the frequency of word structure decreases when the number of syllable increases. Take for example the following words: /ilakiyatu/ 'it melts', /avalukku/ 'for her', /errukkontu/ 'having accepted', /elumiccam/ 'lemon', /irukkiratu/ 'it is there'.
These have a frequency of less than 20 occurrences. The same is true of the fourth standard textbook also.
Fourth Standard
Table 5.
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 uppu VCCV 347 19.60
2 oli VCV 203 11.47
3 elucci VCVCCV 151 8.53
4 arivali VCVCVCV 108 6.10
5 ettanai VCCVCV 84 4.75
6 arivu VCVCV 79 4.46
7 anil VCVC 75 4.24
8 aracan VCVCVC 75 4.24
9 or VC 72 4.07
10 ottam VCCVC 71 4.01
11 atikkati VCVCCVCV 50 2.82
12 avataram VCVCVCVC 47 2.66
13 arankam VCVCCVC 43 2.43
14 attiram VCCVCVC 35 1.98
15 akaratiyai VCVCVCVCV 32 1.81
16 evvalavu VCCVCVCV 21 1.19
17 irukkaiyin VCVCCVCVC 18 1.02
18 arikkiratu VCVCCVCVCV 18 1.02
19 ennikkai VCCVCCV 14 0.79
20 ataimolikku VCVCVCVCCV 13 0.73
1556 87.91
Less than 32 occurrences are words with five and above five syllabic words. If at all there are some words with three syllables like /arankam/ 'stage' have less number of occurrences, it is due to the fact those words are not used frequently in the spoken or written communications. As in the textbooks up to third standard showed that the consonant beginning words are more, the fourth standard also shows the same.
Fifth Standard Table 6.
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 enna VCCV 514 12.47
2 üci VCV 370 8.97
3 arumpu VCVCCV 259 6.28
4 atikalai VCVCVCV 236 5.72
5 unavu VCVCV 230 5.58
6 ankati VCCVCV 211 5.12
7 aram VCVC 196 4.75
8 inpam VCCVC 189 4.58
9 oviyam VCVCVC 169 4.10
10 amaiccar VCVCCVC 154 3.74
11 ariviyal VCVCVCVC 142 3.44
12 iyantiram VCVCCVCVC 140 3.40
13 en VC 133 3.23
14 accakam VCCVCVC 131 3.18
15 atikkati VCVCCVCV 90 2.18
16 anpalaki VCCVCVCV 68 1.65
17 alaivaricai VCVCVCVCV 50 1.21
18 arivippu VCVCVCCV 45 1.09
19 ancalakam VCCVCVCVC 44 1.07
20 aluvalakam VCVCVCVCVC 35 0.85
3406 82.61
In this case also four syllabic words have less number of occurrences. But here as far as fifth standard textbook is concerned, the number of occurrences of more than four syllabic words is more in comparison with the earlier four standards. This fact is to be accepted in terms of increase in the difficulty level. The study shows that the textbooks have taken care of this fact that lesser the number of syllables lesser is the difficulty level.
The frequency of words with a syllabic structure beginning with a consonant also is important in the study to find out the frequency of words. The successive tables explain the frequency and percentage of the first 10 high frequency occurring patterns of initial consonant canonical patterns in the 1st to 5th standard Tamil Textbook.
This study, further tries to project words with consonant beginning to find out the differences. This gives lots of information about the type of words used in the textbooks. The number of consonant beginning words is more frequent which can be seen in the following table to find out the frequency of words.
Consonant Beginning Canonical Patterns
The frequency of words with a syllabic structure beginning with a consonant also is important in the study. The successive tables explain the frequency and percentage of the first 10 high frequency occurring patterns of initial consonant canonical patterns in the 1st to 5th standard Tamil Textbook.
This study, further tries to project words with consonant beginning to find out the differences. This gives lots of information about the type of words used in the textbooks. The number of consonant beginning words is more frequent which can be seen in the following table.
First Standard
Table 7.
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 verri CVCCV 232 15.85
2 pati CVCV 175 11.95
3 patam CVCVC 141 9.63
4 tay CVC 113 7.72
5 nanpan CVCCVC 96 6.56
6 payirci CVCVCCV 80 5.46
7 pataku CVCVCV 80 5.46
8 kopuram CVCVCVC 68 4.64
9 narkali CVCCVCV 49 3.35
10 cakkaram CVCCVCVC 46 3.14
11 vanakkam CVCVCCVC 43 2.94
12 purattari CVCVCCVCV 43 2.94
13 ni CV 32 2.19
14 kelatari CVCVCVCV 21 1.43
15 palappalam CVCVCCVCVC 19 1.30
16 mitivanti CVCVCVCCV 16 1.09
17 vinayakam CVCVCVCVC 16 1.09
18 tinpantam CVCCVCCVC 15 1.02
19 karumpalakai CVCVCCVCVCV 14 0.96
20 vilankukalin, CVCVCCVCVCVC 14 0.96
1313 89.69
Table 7 shows that first ten highest frequently occurrence of consonant patterns cover 1080 words of 73.77 percentage out of 1464 words in second standard Tamil textbook. Totally, 56 vowel initial patterns cover 100% of second standard Tamil Textbook. The maximum number of vowel beginning words of two syllables are 71, 61 and 32 occurrences only at the maximum, whereas the frequency of consonant beginning words are above 100 occurrences: /verri/ 'Success' 232, /pati/ 'Read / Study / Learn / Step / Xerox' 175, /patam/ 'Picture' 141, /tay/ 'Mother' 113. (Please see the table above). This shows that the consonant beginning words are more in the textbook. Accordingly the materials and teaching techniques are to be changed.
Second Standard
Table 8._
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 nlti CVCV 360 12.98
2 vattu CVCCV 319 11.50
3 pakuti CVCVCV 191 6.89
4 tun CVC 153 5.52
5 tükkam CVCCVC 146 5.27
6 parutti CVCVCCV 143 5.16
7 vimanam CVCVCVC 136 4.90
8 mayil, CVCVC 129 4.65
9 kannati CVCCVCV 125 4.51
10 kulappam CVCVCCVC 112 4.04
11 tipavali CVCVCVCV 88 3.17
12 venkalam CVCCVCVC 81 2.92
13 peyarkalai CVCVCCVCV 81 2.92
14 kujikkkay CVCVCCVCVC 51 1.84
15 tiraviyam CVCVCVCVC 49 1.77
16 kantupiti CVCCVCVCV 38 1.37
17 marappalakai CVCVCCVCVCV 37 1.33
18 va CV 32 1.15
19 vilaiyattu CVCVCVCCV 31 1.12
20 kannamücci CVCCVCVCCV 28 1.01
2330 84.02
Table 8 presents the ten high frequently occurring initial consonant patterns. Totally 2773 initial consonant words present in the second standard Tamil textbook. In the 1814 initial consonant patterns cover 65.42 percentages out of 2773 initial consonant patterns. As the difficulty level increases the words with consonant beginning and which are up to three syllabic words are above 100 in occurrences. This again proves the fact that the words used in communication has a consonant in the beginning.
Third Standard Table 9.
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 puli CVCV 483 12.28
2 palli CVCCV 420 10.68
3 karumpu CVCVCCV 230 5.85
4 namatu CVCVCV 225 5.72
5 pattam CVCCVC 215 5.47
6 takkaji CVCCVCV 194 4.93
7 tamil CVCVC 188 4.78
8 kopuram CVCVCVC 184 4.68
9 vil CVC 180 4.58
10 vitukatai CVCVCVCV 136 3.46
11 vilakkam CVCVCCVC 126 3.20
12 vakupparai CVCVCCVCV 112 2.85
13 pantayam CVCCVCVC 104 2.64
14 parattuka} CVCVCCVCVC 66 1.68
15 palavitam CVCVCVCVC 64 1.63
16 patukappu CVCVCVCCV 60 1.53
17 taHupati CVCCVCVCV 59 1.50
18 kankatei CVCCVCCV 52 1.32
19 natakkiratu CVCVCCVCVCV 44 1.12
20 culcci CVCCCV 43 1.09
3185 80.96
Table 9 represents that first ten high frequently occurring initial consonant of third standard Tamil textbook. These ten structures cover 2455 words of 62.40 percentages.
The study proves that consonant beginning words are more frequent in the textbooks and that as the knowledge level increases the word length with three and more syllables increases.
Fourth Standard
Table 10.
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 pommai CVCCV 470 11.02
2 koti CVCV 411 9.63
3 vacanai CVCVCV 262 6.14
4 kopuram CVCVCVC 259 6.07
5 kuccal CVCCVC 254 5.95
6 murukku CVCVCCV 239 5.60
7 muyal CVCVC 236 5.53
8 tarpotu CVCCVCV 184 4.31
9 par CVC 180 4.22
10 tipavali CVCVCVCV 156 3.66
11 pantayam CVCCVCVC 148 3.47
12 kutumpam CVCVCCVC 144 3.38
13 vakupparai CVCVCCVCV 100 2.34
14 vilamparam CVCVCCVCVC 83 1.95
15 viyaparam CVCVCVCVC 72 1.69
16 tontaravu CVCCVCVCV 68 1.59
17 vai CV 58 1.36
18 puccentu CVCCVCCV 51 1.20
19 vayppu CVCCCV 50 1.17
20 toranankal CVCVCVCCVC 50 1.17
3475 81.46
The frequencies are depicted in the above table 10 occurrences of first ten high frequent initial consonant patterns in fourth standard Tamil textbook. It shows that the 62.14 percentage covers 2651 words out of 4266 words. Totally 138 patterns cover in the fourth standard Tamil Textbook.
The information expressed by this table for fourth standard also proves that words without any suffixes and having four syllables form more than 65% of the total vocabulary. Furthermore, monosyllabic words with CV occur only 58 times and CVC type has, of course occurred 180 times.
Fifth Standard
Table 11._
Sl. No. Word Structure Frequency Percentage
1 kummi CVCCV 795 9.27
2 nila CVCV 698 8.14
3 necavu CVCVCV 598 6.97
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
tekkam carakku
cutar pativam
CVCCVC CVCVCCV CVCVC
CVCVCVC
527 493 466 465 375 346 283 281 270 245 242 169 128 124 110 108 94 6817
6.14 5.75 5.43 5.42 4.37 4.03 3.30 3.28
3.15 2.86 2.82 1.97 1.49 1.45 1.28 1.26 1.10 79.46
tol
CVC
viruppam curavali kar panai kampalam perarinar camuttiram ceyalkalai nalkuravu kuravanci karkantu vinnappam camayattil
CVCVCCVC CVCVCVCV CVCCVCV CVCCVCVC CVCVCVCVC CVCVCCVCVC CVCVCCVCV CVCCVCVCV CVCVCVCCV CVCCVCCV CVCCVCCVC CVCVCVCCVC
Table 11 shows the initial vowel consonants of first ten frequency occurrences. Entirely, 206 initial consonant patterns are in fifth standard Tamil textbook. 5046 word cover 10 structure i.e. 58.85 percentages.
Almost all the words with the syllabic structure up to 4 syllables form the most frequent ones in the fifth standard. It shows clearly that the fifth class in the primary school is ready to teach the learners the complex words with this many syllables. It is observed that all the 19 types of 20% frequency words have more than 100 occurrences.
Formation of Structure
There are three ways to analyze the structure of a word. They are (1) by the syllabic structure of the word, (2) by the morphological features and (3) by the formation as simple, compound and complex words. The syllabic structure of the words has been analyzed in the previous sections.
Morphological Features
Structure of a word is often studied under morphology. Morphology is the study of the structure and form of words in a language, including inflection, derivation, and the formation of compounds. At the basic level, words are made of "morphemes." These are the smallest units of meaning: roots and affixes (prefixes, infixes and suffixes). Native speakers recognize the morphemes as grammatically significant or meaningful. The combination of words to form compound words, inflection to know the forms of word and derivation to create words from one form to another.
Examples:
/patanul/ 'textbook' is made of /patam/ 'lesson' + /nul/ 'book'
Inflection occurs when a word has different forms but essentially the same meaning, and there is only a grammatical difference between them as inflected.
Examples:
/maranka}/ 'trees' is made of /maram/ 'tree' + a grammatical suffix /-kal/ 'plural marker'
Derivation on the other hand changes the word parts of speech such as adjective to a noun or a verb to a noun, etc., depending on the morphological system of a particular language.
Examples:
/alakanaval/ 'beautiful girl' is made of /alakana -adjective/ 'beautiful' and the suffix /-val/ 'human feminine suffix'. /patippu/ 'education' is made of /pati/-verb 'beautiful' and the suffix /-ppu/ 'a suffix to derive verbal noun from verb'.
Simple, Compound and Complex Words
The structure of vocabulary can be classified into the following three types. Such as Simple, Complex and Compound
Simple structure refers to words without derivation or inflection. This is otherwise called the 'simple formation' that is the root of a word. That root has a definite form.
Examples:
/etu/ 'take' /tira/ 'open' /eru/ 'climb'
These simple words are found more in the first standard textbook. However, the syllabic structure of these words, namely, vowel beginning and consonant beginning, also matters to find out the frequency of them.
Complex formation, which deals with the combination of the simple form with other grammatical features are very difficult for the learners to understand, since they involve lots of other grammatical features. The complex structure formations can be illustrated as follows.
Examples:
/patittukkontirukkiran/ 'he is reading'
This complex word is formed by the combination of the following grammatical features. /pati/ 'verb root'
+ /-ttu/ 'verbal participle marker' + kontiru 'continuous aspect marker' +/-kkir-/ 'present tense marker' + /-an/ 'their person masculine singular marker)
This word formation is not only long but also complex. The syllabic structure of this single word will be very difficult for the learners.
Compound formation, which dealt with the combination of the simple form, for example, noun and noun that is called compound structure/compound formation. Compound word formation is based on different structures, namely Noun+noun, Noun +verb, verb+noun, etc. Idiomatic meanings of compounds are a separate one at the meaning level.
Examples:
/palli vijaiyattu maitanam/ 'the playground of the school'
The words involved in this compound are /palli/ 'school'
/vilaiyattu/ 'play' /maitanam/ 'ground'
In this word there is no morphophonemic change. In fact in Tamil the compound words may undergo these changes to give the exact meaning. These compound words are more in number and the syllabic structure of these words will also considerably change accordingly.
SUMMARY
A comparison of the syllabic patterns in each of the standard is given below. This gives details of how the syllabic pattern influences the teaching of vocabulary, how the selection of the words for the textbook is to be done, how the teaching method to teach vocabulary is to be modified, etc. The table is presented in two ways: first with the vowel beginning syllabic patterns (Table 13) and the other with the consonant beginning syllables (Table 14).
An analysis of the syllabic structures introduced in the five standards show that disyllabic words are more frequently used in all the five standard textbooks. For example:
Table 12. _
Standard Vowel Beginning Syllables Consonant Beginning Syllables
Standard I 61 232
Standard II 181 319
Standard III 274 42
Standard IV 347 470
Standard V 514 795
It is really enthralling that there is a uniform increase in the number of syllables across first to fifth standard textbooks. This has proved that there should be a way found to select words belonging to these syllabic structures for inclusion in the textbooks and teaching should be oriented towards it. This is true of other types of syllabic structures also. There is fact that more the number of syllables lesser the number of words.
The acquisition of more vocabulary with different usages may help one to enrich his language skills. In developing the writing skill, vocabulary plays a major role though it may be useful in other skills also. Acquisition process of vocabulary is classified into recalling the vocabulary, contrasting the word with another, contextual usage.
Table 13. Initial Vowel Patterns._
1st Standard 2nd Standard 3rd Standard 4th Standard 5th Standard
Word Fr Word Fre Word Fre Word Fre Word Fre
Structure eq Structure q Structure q Structure q Structure q
VC 33 VC 33 VC 64 VC 72 VC 133
VCCV 61 VCCV 181 VCCV 274 VCCV 347 VCCV 514
VCCVC 18 VCCVC 29 VCCVC 56 VCCVC 71 VCCVC 189
VCCVCV 13 VCCVCV 54 VCCVCV 101 VCCVCV 84 VCCVCV 211
VCCVCVC 5 VCCVCVC 22 VCCVCVC 30 VCCVCVC 35 VCCVCVC 131
VCCVCVCV 9 VCCVCVCV 12 VCCVCVCV 36 VCCVCVCV 21 VCCVCVCV 68
VCV 71 VCV 172 VCV 223 VCV 203 VCV 370
VCVCVC 25 VCVCVC 49 VCVCVC 104 VCVCVC 75 VCVCVC 169
VCVC 32 VCVC 55 VCVC 85 VCVC 75 VCVC 196
VCVCCV 69 VCVCCV 98 VCVCCV 127 VCVCCV 151 VCVCCV 259
VCVCCVC 13 VCVCCVC 45 VCVCCVC 61 VCVCCVC 43 VCVCCVC 154
VCVCV 53 VCVCV 76 VCVCV 103 VCVCV 79 VCVCV 230
VCVCVCV 9 VCVCVCV 25 VCVCVCV 66 VCVCVCV 108 VCVCVCV 236
VCVCVCVC 16 VCVCVCVC 28 VCVCVCVC 38 VCVCVCVC 47 VCVCVCVC 142
VCVCCVCVC 6 VCVCCVCVC 15 - - VCVCCVCVC 18 VCVCCVCVC 140
VCVCCVCVCV 5 VCVCCVCVCV 14 VCVCCVCVCV 16 VCVCCVCVCV 18
- - VCVCCVCV 18 VCVCCVCV 43 VCVCCVCV 50 VCVCCVCV 90
- - VCVCVCVCV 16 VCVCVCVCV 20 VCVCVCVCV 32 VCVCVCVCV 50
VCVCVCCV 6 - - VCVCVCCV 19 - VCVCVCCV 45
VCVCVCCVC 5 - - VCVCVCCVC 17 - -
VCCVCVCCV 4 VCCVCVCCV 7 - - - - - -
VCCVCVCVC 6 - - - - - - VCCVCVCVC 44
- - - - VCCVCCVCCV 17 - - - -
- - - - - - VCVCVCVCCV 13 - -
- - - - - - VCCVCCV 14 - -
- - - - - - - - VCVCVCVCVC 35
- - V 8 - - - - - -
Table 14. Initial Consonants Patterns.
1st Standard
2nd Standard
3rd Standard
4th Standard
5th Standard
Word Fre Word Fre Word Fre Word Fre Word Fre
Structure q Structure q Structure q Structure q Structure q
CVC 113 CVC 153 CVC 180 CVC 180 CVC 375
CVCCV 232 CVCCV 319 CVCCV 420 CVCCV 470 CVCCV 795
CVCCVC 96 CVCCVC 146 CVCCVC 215 CVCCVC 264 CVCCVC 527
CVCCVCV 49 CVCCVCV 125 CVCCVCV 194 CVCCVCV 184 CVCCVCV 281
CVCCVCVC 46 CVCCVCVC 81 CVCCVCVC 104 CVCCVCVC 148 CVCCVCVC 270
CVCV 175 CVCV 360 CVCV 483 CVCV 411 CVCV 698
CVCVC 141 CVCVC 129 CVCVC 188 CVCVC 236 CVCVC 466
CVCVCCV 80 CVCVCCV 143 CVCVCCV 230 CVCVCCV 239 CVCVCCV 493
CVCVCCVC 43 CVCVCCVC 112 CVCVCCVC 126 CVCVCCVC 144 CVCVCCVC 346
CVCVCCVCV 43 CVCVCCVCV 81 CVCVCCVCV 112 CVCVCCVCV 100 CVCVCCVCV 169
CVCVCCVCVC 19 CVCVCCVCVC 51 CVCVCCVCVC 66 CVCVCCVCVC 83 CVCVCCVCVC 242
CVCVCV 80 CVCVCV 191 CVCVCV 225 CVCVCV 259 CVCVCV 598
CVCVCVC 68 CVCVCVC 136 CVCVCVC 184 CVCVCVC 259 CVCVCVC 465
CVCVCVCV 21 CVCVCVCV 88 CVCVCVCV 136 CVCVCVCV 156 CVCVCVCV 283
CVCVCVCVC 16 CVCVCVCVC 49 CVCVCVCVC 64 CVCVCVCVC 72 CVCVCVCVC 245
CVCVCVCCV 16 CVCVCVCCV 31 CVCVCVCCV 60 - - CVCVCVCCV 124
CVCVCCVCVC 14 CVCVCCVCVC 37 CVCVCCVCVC 44 - - - -
V V V
CV 32 CV 32 - - CV 58 - -
CVCCVCCVC 15 - - - - - - CVCCVCCVC 108
CVCVCCVCVC \TC 14 - - - - - - -
VC - CVCCVCVCV 38 CVCCVCVCV 59 CVCCVCVCV 68 CVCCVCVCV 128
- - - - CVCCVCCV 52 CVCCVCCV 51 CVCCVCCV 110
- - - - CVCCCV 43 CVCCCV 50 - -
- - - - - - CVCVCVCCVC 50 CVCVCVCCVC 94
- - CVCCVCVCCV 28 - - - - - -
References
Anglin, Jeremy M., George A. Miller, and Pamela C. Wakefield. 1993. "Vocabulary Development: A Morphological Analysis." Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 58 (10): i. https://doi.org/10.2307/1166112. Awad, Ahmed. 2008. "Analyzing 'English for Palestine-10' for Teaching English for the Tenth Graders in Public Schools in Palestine in Terms of the Characteristics of a good English Textbook." Journal of Al-Quds Open University for Research and Studies 13: 4-14. Deacon, S. Helene, and John R. Kirby. 2004. "Morphological Awareness: Just 'More Phonological'? The Roles of Morphological and Phonological Awareness in Reading Development." Applied Psycholinguistics 25 (2): 223-38. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716404001110. DK Illustrated Oxford Dictionary, Rev. ed. 2003. London; New York: Oxford; New York: Dorling Kindersley; Oxford University Press.
Laufer, Batia, and Paul Nation. 1999. 'A Vocabulary-Size Test of Controlled Productive Ability."
Language Testing 16 (1): 33-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/026553229901600103. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. 2009. 5th Edition. Pearson Education Limited. Miller, Tom. 2005. Functional Approaches to Written Text. Washington, D.C.: Office of English
Language Programs, United States Department of State. Pillai, Nadaraja. 2012. "Vocabulary Teaching." Seminar on Evaluation of Tamil Textbook. Madurai:
Madurai Kamaraj University. Nagy, William, Virginia W. Berninger, and Robert D. Abbott. 2006. "Contributions of Morphology Beyond Phonology to Literacy Outcomes of Upper Elementary and Middle-School Students." Journal of Educational Psychology 98 (1): 134-47. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.134.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. Author information
L. R. Prem Kumar is a faculty member at the LDC-IL Department, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, India. Copyrights
Copyright for this article is retained by the author, with publication rights granted to the journal.
