Developing vocabulary lists in specialized Maritime English corpora

Abstract

This research provides an overview of the vocabulary in Maritime English from multiple facets. For this research purpose, the Maritime English Corpus (MEC) was compiled, containing about ten million running words with six sub-corpora. It consists of written data of conventions and regulations, committee resolutions, journal articles, media texts, textbooks, and special genres (charter parties and marine accident investigation reports) in the maritime domain. In order to investigate the vocabulary demands for understanding different types of English written texts in the maritime domain, range analysis was carried out on the sub-corpora in the MEC. The results show that even mastering the BNC/COCA 25,000 word families, learners and prospective users could only reach the vocabulary threshold for minimally acceptable comprehension (95%). However, the lexical coverage percentage of the BNC/COCA 25,000 word families plus proper nouns, marginal words, transparent compounds, and acronyms in none of the sub-corpora (subsets) in the MEC could reach the upper boundary (98%) over which learners are likely to gain an optimal comprehension. From this point of view, it is not hard to infer the fact that mastering high-frequency general words is apparently not enough to understand various Maritime English written texts. In light of the limited research on Maritime English vocabulary and the necessity of meeting vocabulary needs within the maritime domain, the Maritime Academic Word List (MAWL) and the Maritime Technical Word List (MTWL) were developed in the present study. To generate the MAWL, a corpus of academic texts in maritime disciplines was constructed. The Maritime Journal Articles Corpus (MJAC) contains more than three million running words, including 478 texts of recent ten years English journal articles in the fields of marine policy and management, transportation and logistics, marine structure and engineering, economics and business, navigation, and maritime law. Based on the MJAC, the MAWL was generated by multi-dimensional selection criteria and resulted in a list of 1,684 words (lemmas), which has about 34% lexical coverage in Maritime English academic texts across a wide range of maritime disciplines. Study findings pointed out that the lexical items in the MAWL, as compared to those in the general academic vocabulary lists, are more targeted and discipline-specific. Therefore, the MAWL as an enhancement and supplement to the general academic vocabulary lists could better meet the needs of Maritime English learners and prospective users. In addition to the vocabulary needs of English for Academic Purposes (EAP), knowledge of technical words in a specialized area is also crucial to one’s development in a professional field. As a result, developing a list of commonly used Maritime English technical words is necessary for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching and learning. Based on the MEC, a list of Maritime English technical vocabulary was developed by adopting a hybrid method combining keyword analysis and technical words rating scale. To enhance the method, both frequency keyword analysis and text dispersion keyword analysis were carried out. The resulting MTWL contains 527 words (types), and a supplementary list of 124 acronyms and proper names crucial to various maritime contexts. The MTWL covers 3.64% tokens in the MEC and the coverage percentage increases to 4.23% if the items in the supplementary list are included. This study provides a deeper insight into Maritime English as a specialized language in multiple aspects. The results offer valuable information on vocabulary load in different types of Maritime English written texts. And the MAWL and the MTWL are expected to contribute to the rapidly expanding field of discipline-specific vocabulary lists. Furthermore, the findings in this study will also benefit EAP and ESP teaching and learning in several ways.