Categorization of Words

After selecting 150 basketball English words that only appear in the web corpus

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but not in the teaching material, the present study put them into six categories based on the categories provided by the basketball English teaching material Fast Break.

They are league, game, people, court, movement and statistic. The category league includes words related to the NBA basketball league such as offseason, postseason and semifinal. The category game contains words that are used to describe the competing process in a basketball game. For example, words like defeat, match and outscore belong to the game category. In the category people, there are words used to describe humans in the basketball game such as veteran, freshman and swingman. The category court includes words used to represent the equipments and places on the basketball court. Words like perimeter, corner and buzzer are included in this category.

For the category statistic, words which are recorded in the box score and recorded in the form of number belong to the category. For example, season-high and team-high belong to this category. The category movement includes words used to describe and represent a player‟s movement in the basketball sport. Catch, connect and deliver are included in this category. To make those words more comprehensible to the readers, Chinese translation was provided.

As shown in Table 5, basketball English words appearing only in the web corpus but not in the teaching material in the league category are presented. The table

provides Chinese translation for every word and the frequency of that word in the web corpus.

Table 5 : Basketball English Words Appearing Only in Web Corpus but not in the Teaching Material in the League Category.

Category: League

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5.first-round(n) 第一輪(季後賽，選秀) 4,792

6.land(v) 招攬球員 4,570

7.semifinal(n) 準決賽 3,898

8.extension(n) 延長合約 3,215

9.lottery(n) 樂透選秀 2,976

10.reigning(adj) 本年度的 1,819

11.remainder(n) 剩餘的球季或比賽 1,721

12.clinch(v) 緊抓(聯盟排名) 1,570

13.waive(v) 裁撤(教練，球員) 1,168

In this category, the web corpus contains 13 words which the teaching material does not include. After examining those words carefully, the present study found those words important in basketball English. For example, rank appears for 22,079 times in the web corpus. It means the position of a team in the standing of the league. In the example sentence “Miami ranks 23rd in offensive efficiency,” it can be indicated that the team Miami was the 23^rd in the offense field. Two more examples are the words postseason and offseason. Postseason appears for 8,526 times in the web basketball English web corpus and offseason appears for 5,144 times in the web basketball English corpus.

Postseason is another term for playoff, which means the game series after the regular season when all the 16 teams are fighting for the championship. It is used frequently on the web pages. After checking the concordance tool and the original file view tool, the present study lists an example sentence below. “LeBron has been sensational in this postseason with former Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen even calling him the greatest ever to have played the game.” Based on the sentence generated from the web corpus, it is clear that the player James did very well in the postseason games.

The word offseason indicates the time when all the NBA games are finished and the players can take a rest. Although there is no game during the offseason, there are

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still NBA related news, rumors and reports going on. Those news, reports and rumors are mostly about players‟ personal life, their future movement, the change of the teammates and coaching staff. Take a sentence generated from the web corpus for example, “the Thunder still has time but it is conspicuously borrowed time even if Durant re-signs on a five-year deal this offseason.” In the sentence, it can be seen that offseason is a time when the team regroups the players and the players resign contract with the team.

One interesting finding is that there are some words which are both used in general English and basketball English. However, they may contain different meanings in the basketball English field. Land and lottery are two examples.

Land appears for 4,570 times in the web corpus. In general English, land as a verb means moving safely down to the ground. In basketball English, however, it indicates to acquire a player into a team. For example, “when the LA Clippers landed Blake Griffin in the 2009 draft, Randolph was traded to the Grizzlies by the Clippers in exchange for Quentin Richardson.”

Lottery appears for 2,976 times in the web corpus. In general English, lottery means a game of gambling used to make money for the country or the charity. To play the game, people need to buy a ticket with a series of numbers on it. If those numbers are picked by chance, the ticket owners can get money. In basketball English, however, lottery is often used to talk about the draft pick. In the NBA draft, the teams who had missed the playoff in the previous year participate in a lottery process to determine the draft order in the NBA draft. The teams obtain the rights to pick amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The lottery winner would get the first selection in the draft. The term lottery pick indicates a draft pick whose position is determined through the lottery, while the non-playoff teams involved in the process are often called lottery teams. For example,

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“while the Warriors have a few big men of their own coming off the bench, they invested lottery picks in perimeter players.”

In conclusion, the eight exclusive words in the web corpus have significance in basketball English. They not only have high frequency but also have relevance with basketball. The abovementioned eight words are suggested to be put into the book to enrich its content.

As illustrated in Table 6, the basketball English vocabulary items in the game category appearing in the web corpus but not in the teaching material are

demonstrated. Each word‟s Chinese translation and frequency in the corpus are also provided.

Table 6 :Basketball English Words Appearing Only in Web Corpus but not in the Teaching Material in the Game Category.

Category: Game

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In this category, words used to describe the process in a basketball game are listed. From the table, it can be seen that the web corpus word list includes 47 basketball English words which are not listed in the teaching material. Nine words from the table are chosen for further discussion. They are run, stretch, trail, sit, screen,

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suspend, sweep, snap, and traffic. The first word is item number 1 run which appears for 43,253 times in the web corpus. One interesting finding of this word is that it has a different meaning in basketball English. In general English, run as a noun means a period of time spent running or a distance people run. Nevertheless, run means a period of offense where one team outscores the other. For example, “the Mavs pulled off a quick 8-0 run with the first real Jason Terry sighting of the Finals and just like that it was a 7 point game with just under 5 minutes left.”

The second word is item number 3 stretch which appears for 11,062 times in the web corpus. In general English, stretch means a long and narrow area of land. In basketball English, however, it has different definition. Take a sentence from the basketball English web corpus for example, “that stat line looks much more impressive after he hit back-to-back threes on the next two possessions and four straight free throws down the stretch to seal the win.” Stretch in basketball English actually indicates the period of time where two teams are fighting against each other to win the game and both teams‟ scores are quite close.

The third word is item number 9 trail which appears for 5,159 times in the web corpus. In general English as a verb, trail means to pull something behind a person along the ground. Nevertheless, trail means one team‟s score is less than the other.

For example, “with three seconds left in the game and Chicago trailing 99-100, Michael Jordan somehow broke free of Craig Ehlo and made a shot over the hapless Ehlo from atop the free-throw line that gave Chicago a famous 101-100 win.”

The fourth word is the item number 13 sit which also has different meaning in basketball English. For example, “the Heat sat Dwayne Wade for the first time this year in Boston Wednesday night.” Sit means a team or the coach makes a player sit on the bench. It can be followed by a person as the object.

The fifth word screen is the number 14 vocabulary item which appears for 3,638

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times in basketball English web corpus. In general English, screen means a part of the television of the computer where the pictures are showed. In basketball English, nevertheless, screen indicates ablocking move by an offensive player to free a teammate to shoot, receive a pass, or drive in to score by standing beside or behind a defender. For example, “Gil Zero hit a three, helped by a Chris Bosh screen.”

The item number 16 suspend is also frequently used in basketball English. It appears for 3,153 times in the web corpus. This word is used in basketball much the same as it is used in general English. It indicates to stop a player from playing due to misbehavior on or off the court. For example, “last season the league suspended small forward Jeff Taylor 24 games after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence in Michigan.”

The seventh word is the item number 19 sweep which appears for 2,933 times in the web corpus. In general English, sweep usually means to clean the floor with a brush. In Basketball English, it means to beat a team without losing a game in a series.

For example, “the LA Lakers , the defending NBA champions of the past two seasons and three-time Western Conference champions in the running were eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in a 4-0 series sweep.”

The eighth word is item number 20 snap. Snap means to break with a sharp noise in general English. In basketball English, it means to stop a losing streak. Take the example sentence from the web corpus for example, “then the Cleveland Cavaliers finally snapped their NBA-record losing streak at 26 games with a 126-119 overtime win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday at Cleveland.”

The last word discussed is item number 21 traffic which appears for 2,624 times in the basketball English corpus. In general English, traffic means vehicles moving along the road. Nevertheless, traffic indicates the situation where many defenders are standing in front of the offensive player, which makes the offensive player‟s moving,

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shooting or scoring more difficult. For example, “Nash was continually darting into traffic, keeping his dribble, and probing for opportunities. He finished with nine assists (against two turnovers) to go along with 15 points.”

After exploring some words in the game category, the present study found out that there are many words related to basketball English appearing in the web corpus in this category. Nevertheless, the teaching material does not list any of them. It is suggested that the teaching material include those abovementioned words.

As shown in Table 7, the present study displays the list of basketball English words in people category only included by the web corpus but not by the teaching material. There are 34 words in total with their Chinese translation and frequency in the web corpus provided. They all belong to the people category in basketball English.

In this category, words related to people or words used to describe people in

basketball are all included. The following paragraphs will discuss seven words in this category. They are lineup, freshman, hot, rotation, backup, swingman and click.

Table 7 :Basketball English Words Appearing Only in Web Corpus but not in the Teaching Material in the People Category.

Category: People

10.aggressive(adj) 進攻端具有侵略性的 3,896

11.absence(n) 沒上場 3,452

12.swingman(n) 搖擺人(可以打多個位置

的球員)

3,189

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27.explosive(adj) 進攻上有爆發力的 1,515

28.pure(adj) 純粹的(射手，防守者) 1,482

The first word is lineup which appears for 9,193 times in the basketball English corpus. This word actually has the same meaning when it is used in general English and basketball English. Its definition is the players who play in a sports team. For example, “Paul George is still hopeful he can make a return to the Indiana Pacers lineup this season.” Although this word appears for many times in the web corpus, the teaching material does not include it.

The second word is item number 2 freshman, which appears for 8316 times in the web corpus. In general English, it means the student in the first year of high school or university. In basketball English, however, it means the player who just plays in the NBA the very first year. For example, “Smith famously refused to play

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freshmen until a very talented freshman named Michael Jordan forced his hand in 1982.”

The third word is item number 5 hot. Hot often means something has a high temperature. It is often about weather, place, food, drink and objects in general English. When it is used in basketball English, it has a different definition. For example, “Bosh went hot suddenly, scoring the next eight points for Miami which helped them finally register a 96-85 win.” From the example sentence generated from the web corpus, hot has nothing to do the temperature of a certain object. It actually means the player is in a good condition of shooting the ball really well.

The fourth word is item number 7 rotation. In general English, it means something turns with a circular movement around a central point. Nevertheless, rotation means the change of on-court players based on the time they get in a team to play. When a player reaches his limit of time on the court, the coach will replace him with another player. For example, “Jeremy Lamb had the length, athleticism and shooting, but he was constantly in and out of Scott Brooks' rotation and never became a useful player.” When a player is in the rotation, he is able to play on the court.

When he is out of the rotation, he has to sit on the bench.

The fifth word is item number 9 backup, which appears for 4,190 times in the web corpus. In general English, a backup can mean someone who plays in a sports team to replace players who get injured or foul troubles. In basketball English, backup also has the same definition as it is used in general English. A backup player sits on the bench and will go to the court to play when the starter is tired or injured. For example, “Earlier this year , Orlando backup center Marcin Gortat gave an interview to a Polish newspaper. Marcin was quoted as saying he often panics during games.”

The sixth word is item number 12 swingman. It is a word in basketball English to represent a player who can play multiple positions. This word appears for 3,189 times

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but it is seldom used in general English. Take a sentence generated from the web corpus for example, “the other extraordinary piece of the puzzle is swingman

Draymond Green, the Warriors' second-most important player and a singular force in today's NBA.”

The last word discussed in this category is item number 13 click. In general English, click means to make a short and hard sound. Different from general English, click means a player is in a good condition and can play very well on the court. For example, “the starting line-up, which also included Nash, Blake, and Pau Gasol, clicked immediately and opened up a 23-8 lead.”

After the exploring the 7 words in the people category, the present study found that those words discussed above are all relevant to basketball English and appear frequently in the web corpus. It is advised to list them in the teaching material.

As illustrated in Table 8, the current research shows the list of basketball English vocabulary in court category appearing only in the web corpus. There are 13 words in total. They all appear frequently in the web corpus and they are related to basketball.

The following paragraphs will discuss seven words in this category. They are deep, paint, arc, perimeter, corner, distance and downtown.

Table 8 :Basketball English Words Appearing Only in Web Corpus but not in the Teaching Material in the Court Category.

Category: Court

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9.frontcourt(n) 前場 2862

10.downtown(n) 三分線外 2704

11.logo(n) 球隊標誌 2428

12.baseline(n) 底線 2084

13.stripe(n) 罰球線 1604

The first word deep appears for 7,746 times in the basketball English corpus. Its definition in general English is being far down from the top or from the surface. Deep is usually used as an adjective in general English. In basketball English, however, it refers to the place behind the three point line. For example, “He averaged 13.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting 53 percent from the floor and 35 percent from deep.” In the example, shooting from deep actually indicates shooting the three point ball.

The second word paint appears for 7,718 times in the web corpus. In general English, paint means a liquid with a certain color that is used to put on the surface of an object. When it is used in basketball English, paint indicates a specific area of the floor near the basket. Take one example from the web corpus for example,

“Randolph's effort helped the Grizzlies dominate the paint as they outscored the OKC Thunder 52-38 in this department.”

The fourth word perimeter is also used to indicate the three point line on the court. For instance, “If he continues his valiant efforts against James and challenges him to shoot perimeter jumpers, James has shot extremely poorly from outside the paint this postseason, and especially from beyond the arc, Iguodala may be a bit more pleased with his playing performance.”

The fifth word corner appears for 4,894 times in the web corpus. In basketball English, corner is a small area near the place where the base line and the side line meet. A rectangle basketball court has four corners. Players often stand at the corner to shoot the three point ball. One sentence from the web corpus can serve as an

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example, “38.7 percent of the Heat's 3-point attempts came from the corners , the highest rate in the league.”

The sixth word distance appears for 3,305 times in the web corpus. On the basketball court, distance refers to the area behind three-point line. For example, “If Korver, who shot an astonishing 47.8 percent from the distance for the Utah Jazz in

The sixth word distance appears for 3,305 times in the web corpus. On the basketball court, distance refers to the area behind three-point line. For example, “If Korver, who shot an astonishing 47.8 percent from the distance for the Utah Jazz in