Where can I find list of words arranged by approx. age at which they

Question

I'm looking for a list of the most basic words in English, arranged in approximate order of the average age at which they are learned. I have a feeling that someone must have compiled such a list, or something very close, possibly as part of curriculum design.
If you know of freely available lists that fit the description, please post some pointers. Thanks.

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[nq:1]I'm looking for a list of the most basic words in English, arranged in approximate order of the average age ... a feeling that someone must have compiled such a list, or something very close, possibly as part of curriculum design.[/nq]
This feeling may be unreliable, because we have no reason to suppose the same words are learned at (say) age 2 by black children in American cities and white children in English cities and children in the Australian outback. There was in approx.1930 a reform movement called Basic English that sought to refine the language in ways that would facilitate universal communication in English, with a standard vocabulary of fewer than
2000 words. This may meet your need for practicalpurposes. If unsuitable, you should probably look at the professional literature of psychologists specializing in childhood learning. You may find this literature is multilingual.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

I think you are looking for an "ear" vocabulary rather than a "eye" vocabulary.
They eye vocabulary during the first 4 years of school is less than half that of the ear vocabulary.
There is quite a bit of variance in the reported number of words that children understand. This reflects both the differences in children and differences in how the data was acquired.
I would think that the ear vocabulary of 4 year old inner city kids would be about the same as the ear vocabulary of suburban kids. It starts to depart after this age.
Basic English has very little to do with the vocabulary of children or word frequency. It is more of a logical exercise. What are the essential words to say everything that can be said. It is useful because a BASIC dictionary will not use low frequency words to explain other low frequency words.
One can compare the first 1000 words in the BASIC word list with the list of 1000 high frequency words in the Collins COBUILD list. There will be overlap but they will not be identical. The Collins list is generated by counting words that are most likely encountered in 10 million or so words in print.
ogden.basic-english.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic English
http://www.collins.co.uk/corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx
http://literacyconnections.com/Dolch.php
http://literacyconnections.com/Dolch1.html (the Dolch list of 230 words in children's lit)
We can enable our students to greatly increase their reading efficiency when we teach them to read half or more of the words they encounter in a quick and automatic manner: That is, as word-signs.

The basal readers and the Dr. Seus series were based on repeating high frequency words. After repeated exposures, students would begin to recognize the word as a meaning sign or semagram. Whole word advocates see no need for phonics until one starts to teach writing.

You can probably guess correctly at many of the most common words in our written language, such as: the, a, is, of, to, in, and, I, you, and that. You may also want to refer to lists assembled by Dolch or by Fry, Kress, and Fountoukidis.
"Amazing, isn't it? We have over a half-million words to communicate with, but half of everything we write and read depends on only 0.02 percent on only those 100 most frequent words." - Frank B. May in Reading as Communication
One debating point is whether or not someone who can read 1600 common words as sight-words or word-signs can also be considered semi-literate or a borderline illiterate.
There are cases where 16 year olds can read material written at a 3rd grade level but cannot make sense of material written at a 5th grade level. Most newspaper articles are written at a 5th grade level. 1600 high frequency words is enough to read over 80% of what is written in the newspaper. The issue is, is this enough. Does the inability to read 20% of the less frequently used or multisyllable words handicap the reader to the extent that they cannot function in society.

Many people who read 1600 words or less cannot write a simple letter.

Steve (Email Removed)
www.foolswisdom.com/~sbett

(DON) This feeling may be unreliable, because we have no reason to suppose the same words are learned at (say) age 2 by black children in American cities and white children in English cities and children in the Australian outback. There was in approx.1930 a reform movement called Basic English that sought to refine the language in ways that would facilitate universal communication in English, with a standard vocabulary of fewer than
2000 words. This may meet your need for practicalpurposes. If unsuitable, you should probably look at the professional literature of psychologists specializing in childhood learning. You may find this literature is multilingual.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
[nq:1]I'm looking for a list of the most basic words in English, arranged in approximate order of the average age ... part of curriculum design. If you know of freely available lists that fit the description, please post some pointers. Thanks.[/nq]
(SB) Here are the first 60 words in the Fry list
This is from a PDF file so it is a little messed up. The second spelling is a Unifon keyboard spelling - a phonemic entry system for American English. D=3D/D/ in SAMPA the initial sound in *the. U=3D@ or V in SAMPA or both sounds in the word *abut. /ubut/ in Unifon.
Fry 1000
Order Archaic Unifon

1 the Du (=D0U)
2 the DE (thee)
3 of uv
4 and and
5 a u (if pronounced uh)
6 to tU (too and two would be spelled the same)
7 in in
8 is iz
9 you yU (=DA also available)
10 that Dat
11 it it
12 he hE
13 was wuz
14 for fxr (SAMPA fO@`)
15 on xn (some say on or aan)
16 are or (or =3D Am. short o and ah)
17 as az
18 with wiT
19 his hiz
20 they DA
21 I I
22 at at
23 be bE
24 this Dis
25 have hav
26 from from
27 or xr
28 one wun
29 had had
30 by bI
31 word wcrd
32 but but
33 not not
34 what hwut
35 all xl
36 were wcr
37 we wE
38 when hwen
39 your yCr
40 can kan
41 said sed
42 there Der
43 use yUz
44 an an
45 each EK
46 which hwiK
47 she SE
48 do dU
49 how hq
50 their Der
51 if if
52 well wil
53 up up
54 other uDcr
55 about ubqt
56 out qt
57 many menE
58 then Den
59 them Dem
60 these DEz

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm looking for a list of the most basic words in English, arranged in approximate order of the average age at which they are learned.[/nq]
I'd be very curious as to your purpose for this list. Would you mind letting us know what you're doing with it?
Thanks.

The "mypacks.net" address from which this message was sent is legitimate and not spam-trapped. It is, however, disposable.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm looking for a list of the most basic words in English, arranged in approximate order of the average age ... part of curriculum design. If you know of freely available lists that fit the description, please post some pointers. Thanks.[/nq]
Try a google for "early language aquisition English list" for some leads.
While not exactly what you're looking for :
Mapping Words to the World in Infancy: Infants' Expectations for Count Nouns and Adjectives
Amy E. Booth
Journal of Cognition and Development
2003, Vol. 4, No. 3, Pages 357-381
(doi:10.1207/S15327647JCD0403 06)
Words and Sounds in Early Language Acquisition. Charles A. Ferguson. Carol
B. Farwell. Language, Vol. 51, No. 2, 419-439. Jun., 1975.

Words and Sounds in Early Language Acquisition: English Initial Consonants in the First Fifty Words. ... - Get It! @ Queen's CA Ferguson, CB Farwell - Language, 1973 - eric.ed.gov

Language Acquisition
Steven Pinker
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Py104/pinker.langacq.html

may be of some help. If you "really' need it call the local university and ask for the psycholinguists or developmental psychologists on faculty. Someone there should know what exists.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

Where can I find list of words arranged by approx. age at which they

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