On the Wording of Texts: A Study of Intra-Text Word Frequency. Program in Language and Literacy Occasional Paper, No. 6.

This study examines word choice and frequency in six texts. Word frequency has been studied for almost a century but it has been studied across texts in large language corpuses in order to determine frequency in the language at large. Word frequency as a characteristic of specific texts has not been studied. This study of intra-text word frequency shows that frequent words fall into two groups: 1. Words common across texts: function words, pronouns, and cop- ulas (BE forms). These words are common because the syntax of the language requires them and because the sets of words that fit the text requirements are quite small. 2. Words common in the particular text because of the meaning the text represents. These may be quite uncommon in the language at large. These words are common because they provide the semantic cohesion necessary for the text to be a text. Their repetition maintains and extends text relationships. Nouns, particularly proper nouns, are the only content words likely to appear very frequently in a given text. Other content words are rarely repeated more than a few times. This is largely for pragmatic and stylistic reasons. Authors deliberately avoid using the same word over and over. The language is rich in words with similar meaning, and English users value variation. So cohesion may be maintained without repeating the same content words. This study raises questions about the use of word lists and controlled vocabulary in producing basal readers, judging and manipulating read- ability of texts, and building vocabulary.