Vocabulary, Ours and for the Birds: some special Edges and Boundaries!

There seems to be at least 350 words one needs to know to for sure to achieve a high vocabulary score on the SAT I.(Stanford Achievement Test for college entrance).

Attracted to words, the magnetism of the title ‘Hot Words’ for SAT I: The 350 Words You Need to Know, made me grab it from the DeForest Library shelf. It made me so curious--what are these magical words!? How does this fit into the Blog theme: Edges and Boundaries? What has this to do with my backyard flock of hens? Other learners I care about? You are invited to make this discovery with me.

My hens, living symbols of fertility, will soon be egg-producers but there are conditions that must be met. As fall approaches with cooling winds and shortening days, a hen’s ‘egg-laying boundary’ fluctuates, depending on the duration of daylight. I can boost that boundary, modifying the ‘vocabulary of light’-- which is truly a ‘message’ to Izzy. She and her sisters will lay more eggs through fall and winter if they get their required 14 hours of light. Their inner ‘egg-timers’ will stay ‘switched on’. Just set up a light in the coop. Maybe I have done this in time.

The ‘girls’ are already teaching me some of their spoken language; their murmurs, startled squawks, their calls for attention, asking for a treat or to be released to the backyard. Rushing to me when I appear on the lawn. A ‘language of hen nature’ expressing itself with Edges and Boundaries. Izzy-the-Wise has a different tone range than the Rhode Island Reds or the Cuckoo Marans, but she gets her point across.

When thinking about birds and language I can’t help but include the following:

A few years ago, the book: The Mind of the Raven, by Berndt Heinrich, was a best seller. Irresistible! It is filled with revelations about ‘raven culture’, the ‘fertility of raven ‘wisdom’, personalities, senses of humor, playfulness, mechanical skills, learning speed, problem solving abilities, and LANGUAGE! Dr. Heinrich wrote a stunning description of discoveries made by a team of German ‘ravenologists’ who amassed 60,000 recordings of distinct utterances by ravens they studied. As with humans, ravens use certain basic vocalizations often enough so the ornithologists compiled a ‘dictionary’ of frequent raven-speech. Listening in’ on raven conversations they even confirmed/connected many actions with utterances. Ravens use 5,000 tones and series of ‘speech’ combos fairly often, with the most common utterances numbering 538, falling into 33 categories! (as in warnings, greetings, amorous, complaining, comments, food cues, nesting, juvenile mewing, announcements, reassurances, anger, threatening, fear, ‘celebratory’, friendly calling to one another, checking in,and more!) Given a bit of patience, the untrained listener can distinguish about 20 to 65 different ‘ravenish words’. Now that is impressive vocabulary! Ravens also mimic the human voice, dog barks, other birds, and a range of other sounds, like doors slamming! Add in expressive ‘body language’ of the raven, all the information together places ravens very high on the communicator scale amongst all birds. Want to be in awe of both researcher and the researched? Read Mind of the Raven! Berndt Heinrich takes the reader on an unforgettable journey into nature you will be glad you made. (In fact, read all his books!) Very inspiring!

Our youth have had a down-turn in their vocabulary usage that should concern us.

Utne Reader (July-August 2000, 'Like Whatever,' pages 28-9.)

tells us that the typical American teenager of the 50?s had a vocabulary of 25,000 words; the teenager of today 10,000." What has happened to that potential communication ‘boundary’. Shouldn’t it be growing, instead?

Most humans are lucky to have an average working vocabulary of between 5,000 to 30,000 words, depending on age, exposure and many other factors. If we wish to enter a competitive work force, how do we dare to slip backwards? Nevertheless, making sure one knows 350 “magic hot words’ and their usages in prep for the SAT test, beefs up our word-kit for certain, and should be a piece of cake for a student of mine, right? She will, however, feel she is pushing her edges and boundaries verbally! She may even squawk a little! I say, more power to her! Together we are going to feed her ‘kind-wolf of vocabulary’! We’ll be extending the Edges and Boundaries of human potential! One raven, I mean kid, at a time! Somehow, I think Izzy-the-Wise, my bantie, will not be attending these sessions. That’s ok!