Extended mapping – the process of progressive refinement of a word (Carey, 1978 as cited in Nagy & Scott, 2008)
Heterogeneity – what it means to know a word differs substantially based on the type of word
High-frequency words – words occurring more than once in one million words Nagy & Anderson, 1984 as cited in Carlisle, 2004)
Incrementality – knowing a word is a matter of degrees
Interrelatedness –knowledge of one word is NOT independent of knowledge of other words Metalinguistic awareness - ability to objectify language as a process and as a thing; includes awareness of phonology, morphology and syntax.
Multidimensionality – several qualitatively different types of word knowledge: spoken form, written form, grammatical behavior, co-locational behavior (what other words does this word commonly occur with?), frequency, stylistic register, conceptual meaning, and associations with other words (Nagy and Scott, 2004).
Polysemy – having more than one meaning. The more frequently a word is in the language the more meanings it is likely to have. Meanings for the same word can range from completely unrelated to minute nuances.
Quick mapping – the initial establishment of a partial representation of a word meaning sometimes based on a single encounter (Carey, 1978 as cited in Nagy& Scott, 2008).
Types of vocabulary – oral (speaking, listening), print (reading, writing)
Word consciousness - Word consciousness describes a child's interest in gathering new words and using them in their oral and written language.Scott and Nagy 2008 believe that teachers should consider word consciousness across the curriculum and not treat it as an isolated part of vocabulary instruction (Scott & Nagy, 2008 as cited in Blachowicz & Fisher, 2008