Педагогика / 3. Методические основы воспитательного процесса

 

Шастова І.В.

Освітній  центр «Грінлі»

The Frequency of the Letters of the Alphabet in English

 

While teaching English alphabet to Ukrainian primary schoolchildren, practitioners prefer to introduce the letters slowly one by one within the first school year. Simultaneously, young learners get some basic reading and writing skills. Thus, it is essential in what order the letters of the English alphabet are introduced to Ukrainian primary schoolchildren. One of the points which can be taken into the consideration is the frequency of English letters. These data can be found in the frequency analysis, which is one of the main tools of cryptanalysts [1].

         The first investigation of the letter frequency in English texts was done by the  inventor of Morse code, Samuel Morse. He needed to know this to give the simplest codes to the most frequently used letters [3].  To find out the necessary data the inventor counted the number of letters in sets of printers' type. The figures he came up with were the following: 12 000 – E, 9 000 – T, 8 000 – A,I,N,O,S,  6400 – H, 6200 – R, etc. The least frequent letters were: 500 – Q, 400 – J,X, 200 – Z.

Since then there were many other surveys and researchers presented slightly different data. For example, an analysis of letters which occur in words listed in Concise Oxford Dictionary gives the following results: E - 11.16%, A - 8.49%, R - 7.58%, I -  7.54%,  O -  7.16%, T -  6.95%,  N -  6.65%, S - 5.73%, etc. Again, the least frequent letters were X (0.29%), Z (0.27%), J (0.19%) and Q (0.19%).

Summing up these two researches, it is possible to state that letter "e" is the most common in the English language. The next in frequency of use are letters “a”, “i” and “o”,  and the least used – “x”, “j”, “q” and “z”. However, the number for letters “t” and “r” are rather contradictory. Some other surveys (see Table 1) present the data which similar to the second research.

Table 1

Letter Frequency in English

Source

Letters in the order of frequency

the Oxford Dictionary

e a r i o t n s l c u d p m h g b f y w k v x z j q

Press Reporting

e t a o n i s r h l d c m u f p g w y b v k j x q z

Religious Writings

e t i a o n s r h l d c u m f p y w g b v k x j q z

Scientific Writings

e t a i o n s r h l c d u m f p g y b w v k x q j z

General Fiction

e t a o h n i s r d l u w m c g f y p v k b j x z q

Word Averages

e t a o i n s r h l d c u m f p g w y b v k x j q z

Morse Code

e t a i n o s h r d l c u m f w y g p b v k q j x z

These figures are the result of the counting of thousands of millions of letters and texts. They are reliable, however, may not be applied to each single text. The matter is that the difference in the frequency ​​of letters in different texts depends on the length of the text and on their style. Large deviations from the norm in the frequency can be found in certain pieces of prose and, especially, in poetry [2]. For example, the third most frequently used letter in the English texts is "a", but, in "Gulliver's Travels" the frequency of its use is only 0.8%, and in the novel by Georges Perec "A Void" frequency of use of "e" is equal to the zero, since the book was written without using that letter [1]. Thus, some authors can exclude or overuse certain letters or sounds.

However, some tendency can still be found. The ten most frequent letters of English alphabet are e, t, a, i, o, n, s, r, h and l; while the least frequent are q, j, x and z. Having in mind teaching reading skills to primary schoolchildren, it can be wise to start introducing the most frequently used letters at first.

 

Список використаних джерел

1.Быстрова Б.В., Сарсадских О.В. Сравнение частот встречаемости букв в английских текстах и липограммах. – Режим доступу:  http://jrnl.nau.edu.ua/index.php/ZI/article/viewFile/2000/1991.

2.Шептура С.В. Интернет-курс по дисциплине «Математические методы защиты информации». – Режим доступу:  http://e-biblio.ru/book/bib/01_informatika/matem_metod_zachity_inform/sg.html.

3.Oxford Dictionaries. What is the frequency of the letters of the alphabet in English? - Режим доступу: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/what-is-the-frequency-of-the-letters-of-the-alphabet-in-english.