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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