User:Hillhs20/Vocabulary

A vocabulary, also known as a wordstock or word-stock, is a set of familiar words within one’s language. A vocabulary, usually developed over time, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Vocabulary can be broken down into two main forms, receptive and productive knowledge. Receptive knowledge is the ability to receive a word and understand its meaning. Productive knowledge is the ability to understand a word and produce it in language. The extent of one's receiving knowledge can differ depending on the form, phonology (spoken word), or orthography (written word). Usage depends on a degree of knowledge that dictates how familiar a person is with a particular word. There are five stages in which a word gradually enters a person’s vocabulary. These stages include not knowing the word at all to being fluent with the use and definition of the word. Usage also is affected by the depth of knowledge which includes the different degrees of word knowledge. There are many facets to knowing a word, some of which include, orthography, phonology, reference (meaning), semantics (concept and reference), register (appropriateness of use), collocation (lexical neighbors), word associations (associative patterns of words), syntax (the rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences), and morphology (the study of words, how they are formed and their relationship to other words in the same language). When considering one’s vocabulary, the type of vocabulary is very important, whether that be reading vocabulary, listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, writing vocabulary, or final vocabulary. Furthermore, vocabulary is vital in learning and development, for it is heavily tied to literacy, comprehension, and communication. Within vocabulary, it is important to consider both native-language vocabulary and foreign language vocabulary. Memorization is a great tool for expanding one’s vocabulary, especially when learning a foreign language. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a language.