Common words used

supplemental

Normative Text

Common words are used, and definitions are available for uncommon words.

Applies when

human languages have more than 1,500 words

Except when

the words are for names of people or places, or
the language does not have a high-frequency corpus.

This is not a core requirement because a list of common words would not cover terms that are known by specific audiences, such as accounting terms on an accounting site. However, in future guidance for policy makers, it is an example of a supplemental requirement that could be made mandatory for public service and education providers.

Lists of common words are called high-frequency corpora. They exist for many languages including Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin, and Russian as well as American English, British English, and Canadian English.

Research shows that using common words and defining uncommon words improves understanding. Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities recommends using the 1,500 highest-frequency words or phrases because people with severe language impairments are most likely to know these terms. However, more research is needed to confirm if the same threshold applies to many languages for distinguishing common from uncommon words.

Tests

This section is non-normative.

Procedure

For each word:

Check that the word appears in the 1,500 most common words in a high-frequency corpus for the language used.
If the word is not in the list of the 1,500 most common words, check that it has a definition available within the page/view.
Check that a technology in the accessibility support set meets ‘Common words used.’

Expected results

#1, #2, or #3 is true.

Tests

This content needs to be written.

Key Terms

accessibility support set

group of user agents and assistive technologies you test with

The AGWG is considering defining a default set of user agents and assistive technologies that they use when validating guidelines.

Accessibility support sets may vary based on language, region, or situation.

If you are not using the default accessibility set, the conformance report should indicate what set is being used.

accessibility supported

available and working in the user agents and assistive technology in the accessibility support set

The working group intended to include a default accessibility support set. See Default accessibility support set #277.

high-frequency corpus

large collections of text (corpora) used in linguistics to identify and analyze words and phrases that appear most often in a language

human language

language that is spoken, written, or signed (through visual or tactile means) to communicate with humans