An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute:
A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/
HTML Version(1997)
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II.3.14 Studies on the Vocabulary
of Junior High School Textbooks I, II
(I. Report 87, 1986. 432 pages; II. Report 91, 1987. 391 pages)
These books report on a vocabulary survey of 4 science
textbooks (Science 1- Part 1, Science 1- Part 2, Science
2-Part 1, Science 2- Part 2) and 3 sociology textbooks (in the
fields of Sociohistory, Sociogeography, and Civics) used in
junior high schools in 1980. Following Studies on the
Vocabulary of Senior High School Textbooks, the goal of this
study was to determine which vocabulary are thought to be
important for the acquisition of technical knowledge in each
field on the level of compulsory education, i.e., the level
just below senior high school.
We adopted a method of total enumeration for the analysis
and description of the system of vocabulary and writing forms
used in the above textbooks. We used two units: "W units,"
which were based on elements which compose sentences and "M
units," based on the elements (morphemes) which compose
words, the same units as were used in Studies on the
Vocabulary of Senior High School Textbooks.
We succeeded in automating the work involved even further
than in the previous study, using a computer approach based on
the data obtained for high school textbooks. The results
obtained are summarized in the following table.
M Units W Units
Running Different Running Different
Words Words Words Words
Science 80,762 3,003 65,215 5,616
Social Science 169,810 6,863 132,128 14,055
Total 250,572 8,139 197,343 17,774
Furthermore, the proportion of M unit word types,
disregarding auxiliary words, numerals and symbols, was as
follows: Japanese words 49.5% (24.3%), Chinese borrowed words
43.6% (56.8%), borrowed words 1.9% (5.0%), mixed words 0.5%
(0.6%), and personal names and place names 4.6% (13.3%). (The
figures outside parentheses give percentages of running
(total) words and the figures inside parentheses give the
percentage of different words.) The high proportion of
Japanese words as compared to that of high school textbooks is
particularly noteworthy.
Report 87 consists of a vocabulary table in order of the
Japanese 50-kana syllabary and a vocabulary table in order of
frequency of usage for the M units. Report 91 contains the
same tables for the W units.
This research was directed by SAIGA Hideo, TUTIYA Sin'iti,
NAKANO Hirosi, TURUOKA Akio, YAMAZAKI Makoto, NOMURA
Masaaki, SATAKE Hideo, ISII Masahiko, SAITO Hidenori and
TANAKA Takusi. The results were written up by NAKANO
Hirosi, TURUOKA Akio, ISII Masahiko and YAMAZAKI Makoto.
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