A primer on the General Service List

This paper aims to be an introduction to the General Service List (GSL) that brings together descriptive data with material otherwise dispersed throughout the literature. The discussion first provides an historical overview of the work that scholars, researchers, and educators used as foundations for the manufacturing of the GSL. Following, a collection of modern studies is presented in an effort to critically assess the contents and intent of the GSL. In this manner, the paper attempts to provide comprehensive information on the manufacture, content, characteristics, and analyses of the GSL that can serve to inform those interested in the GSL, in particular, and the compilation and assessment of new word-lists, in general

FUNCTIONAL LOAD: TRANSCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE 10,000 MOST FREQUENT WORDS IN SPOKEN ENGLISH

Not all aspects of a language have equal importance for speakers or for learners. From the point of view of language description, functional load is a construct that attempts to establish quantifiable hierarchies of relevance among elements of a linguistic class. This paper makes use of analyses conducted on the 10-million-word spoken subcorpus of the British National Corpus in order to characterize what amounts to approximately 97% of the phonological forms and components heard and produced by fluent speakers in a range of contexts. Our aim is to provide segmental, sequential, and syllabic level rankings of spoken English that can serve as the basis for reference and subsequent work by language educators and researchers

Corpus-Based Frequency Profiling: Migration To A Word List Based On The British National Corpus

The selection and assessment of ELT materials involve multiple criteria. The use of frequency word lists to profile the vocabulary makeup of a text is one such criterion. It provides a quantifiable characterization and classification of lexical material in terms of corpus-based frequency measures. The process of vocabulary profiling is not without challenges, first among which is the identification of a word list adequate for ELT. The choice will determine the amount of information, if any, that can be derived from a text. This paper provides an appraisal of a frequency word list based on the British National Corpus (BNC) and shows the benefits that can be gained by profiling with this list rather than with the long-established General Service List (West, 1953)

Hydrolysis of Thionopeptides by the Aminopeptidase from \u3cem\u3eAeromonas proteolytica\u3c/em\u3e: Insight into Substrate Binding

A series of l-leucine aniline analogues were synthesized that contained either a carbonyl or thiocarbonyl as a part of the amide bond. Additionally, the para-position on the phenyl ring of several substrates was altered with various electron-withdrawing or donating groups. The kinetic constants Km and kcat were determined for the hydrolysis of each of these compounds in the presence of the aminopeptidase from Aeromonas proteolytica (AAP) containing either Zn(II) or Cd(II). The dizinc(II) form of AAP ([ZnZn(AAP)]) was able to cleave both carbonyl and thiocarbonyl containing peptide substrates with similar efficiency. However, the dicadmium(II) form of AAP ([CdCd(AAP)]) was unable to cleave any of the carbonyl-containing compounds tested but was able to cleave the thionopeptide substrates. This is consistent with the borderline hard/soft nature of Zn(II) vs Cd(II). The trends observed in the Km values suggest that the oxygen atom of the amide bond directly interacts with the dinuclear active site of AAP. Heterodimetallic forms of AAP that contained one atom of Zn(II) and one of Cd(II) (i.e., [CdZn(AAP)] and [ZnCd(AAP)]) were also prepared. The Km values for the thionopeptides substrates are the smallest when Cd(II) is in the first metal binding site, suggesting that substrate binds to the first metal binding site. 1-Phenyl-2-thiourea (PTU) and urea (PU) were also examined to determine the differences between thionopeptide and peptide binding to AAP. PTU and PU were found to be competitive inhibitors of AAP with inhibition constants of 0.24 and 4.6 mM, respectively. The electronic absorption and EPR spectra of [CoCo(AAP)], [CoZn(AAP)], and [ZnCo(AAP)] were recorded in the absence and presence of both PU and PTU. Spectral changes were observed for PTU binding to [CoCo(AAP)] and [CoZn(AAP)] but not for [ZnCo(AAP)], while no spectral changes were observed for any of the Co(II)-substituted forms of AAP upon the addition of PU. These data indicate that carbonyl binding occurs only at the first metal binding site. In light of the data presented herein, the substrate binding step in the proposed mechanism of AAP catalyzed peptide hydrolysis can be further refined