Susan Ebbers 20051 All words are pegs to hang ideas on. --Henry Ward Beecher When the mind is thinking, it is talking to itself. --Plato The limits of.

Susan Ebbers 2005 1

All words are pegs to hang ideas on. --Henry Ward Beecher

When the mind is thinking, it is talking to itself. --Plato

The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. --Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein

Susan Ebbers 2005 2

"The greatest benefit from

instructional time spent on word study can be gained from exploring roots, prefixes, suffixes, and networks of related words" --Henry,1997

Susan Ebbers 2005 3

MORPH OLOGY

Gr. form, structure Gr. study of

Morphology is the study of the structure of words as it relates to meaning. It is structural analysis. Morphology may also include the study of word history: etymology.

Susan Ebbers 2005 4

Basic Terms

morpheme: smallest unit of meaning in a word

Ex: biographers: 4 morphemes: bio-graph-er-s

Types of Morphemes:

root or combining form: inspector, thermal

base word: unlikely

prefix: re-, un-, dis-

suffix: -able, -ive, -ly

derivation-a word formed from an existing word, root, or affix: electric, electricity

} affixes

Susan Ebbers 2005 5

Are these real words?

What might they mean?

•ugsome•malductive

•triskaidekaphobia•hydronauts

Susan Ebbers 2005 6

Research Confirms Structural Analysis

• Content Area Reading• English Language Learners

• Spelling Skills• Vocabulary Acquisition

• Fluency and Rapid Word Recognition• Comprehension

Susan Ebbers 2005 7

Singson, Mahony, and Mann studied upper elementary students and found that their understanding of morphemes contributes to both decoding and spelling ability (2000).

Abbott and Berninger concluded from their studies that older struggling readers benefit from learning the composition of English words, which includes their basic structure of prefix, root, suffix, syllable formation, and morpheme patterns (1999).

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Sally Shaywitz, M.D. has determined that "Knowing the etymology or the roots of a word is a very powerful aid to reading, shedding light on a word's pronunciation, its spelling, and its meaning Shaywitz, 2003, p. 207

Arnbak and Elbro determined that morphological awareness training (learning prefixes, roots, and suffixes) significantly increased both comprehension and spelling of complex words in dyslexic readers in fourth and fifth grade.

In a second study with older secondary students, they found that "dyslexic adolescents use recognition of root morphemes as a compensatory strategy in reading both single words and coherent texts.”

1996, 2000

Susan Ebbers 2005 9

Another entry point for adding words to the environment is morphological relationships. For example, challenge students to compare Tyrannosaurus and tyrant; pedestrian and pedal; duplicate and duplicity….

Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002, p. 128

Susan Ebbers 2005 10

The mind analyzes every stretch of language as some mixture of memorized chunks and rule-governed assemblies --Steven Pinker, 1999


ALL MIXED UP

You know this language that we speak, is part German, part Latin, and part Greek

--Peter, Paul, and Mary


Anglo-Saxon

French

Latin Greek



wh-what, sh-ship, th-thumb, ch-church,

ng-king, nk-thank

vowel teams: teeth, footr-controlled: farm, star,

storm, shirt

compound words: mankind, blackbird

common words: love, child, house, heart(often one syllable)

prepositions, articles, conjunctions: with, to,

for, and, the, but…

words with silent letters: knee, night, comb,

wrinkle, could, thought

Anglo-Saxon: Germanic Indo-European Origins


"Silent letter patterns such as kn-, wr-, -ough, -ould, and -igh are remnants of Anglo-Saxon, in which those "silent" letters were sounded." McCardle & Chhabra, 2004


**The brain needs to be prepared for the transition from Anglo-Saxon to Latinate words for three reasons.

1. Students speak Anglo-Saxon but begin to read and write Latin-based derivatives

2. Spelling patterns change: /sh/ -- ci, ti, si; /f/ -- ph, etc.

3. Structural changes: Latin prefix-root-suffix,Greek combining forms, multisyllabic words with schwa

Without this preparation for a change in word structure the brain may be perplexed.

Berninger & Richards, 2002, p. 233-234



LATIN STRUCTURE • Latin words follow a strict structure

• Prefixes, if used, must be placed before the root and suffixes must follow the root

• Latin roots (spect, vis, ject, rupt) are unlikely to stand alone as an English word

• The Latin root usually receives the accent or stress:

• e ject'

• port' ability

• in script' ion

• at tract' ive


Latin: Some Common Rootstrans port able

dis rupt ion

pre script ion

re tract or

inter cept ion

pro ject ile

de struct ion

con duct or

dis miss al

sub vers ive

e dict

to carry

to break

to write

to pull

to take

to throw

to build

to lead

to send

to turn

to speak


White, Sowell, and Yanagihara (1989) found that third-graders who were given training on the nine most common prefixes and a strategy for decomposing words into roots and suffixes outperformed a control group on several measures of word meaning.

They concluded that teaching at least the top nine (if not all twenty) to middle school students would pay dividends in increased vocabulary learning.


20 Most Frequent Prefixes in School Texts

1. unable 2. reviewinedible (impotent, illegal,

irresponsible)

distrustenlighten

(empower)nonsense

inside, implant

overcome

misguided submarine prefix interrupt forewarn

derail transfer supersonic semicircle antitrust

midterm underfed Analysis: White, Sowell, and Yanagihara 1989


Prefixes: Meaning and Connotation

Somewhat Positive

pro- co- bene-

super- com- be-

en-, em-

ad-

Often Negative

dis-, de-

non- sub-

in- un- mis-

mal-anti,

contraa-


portfolio

portable

portability

supportsupportersupportiveunsupportivesupportively

importimporter importation

deportdeporteedeportation

port: to carry (L.)

transporttransporter

transportation

reportreporter


Word Webs or Spoke Diagrams

Create networks of related words. Make a word web, spoke diagram, or root tree for the Latin stem script or scrib, meaning to write

prescription

scribble

scripture

describe


Joanne Carlisle's studies suggest that proficient readers and spellers use knowledge of affixes and roots as they read and spell, while poor readers and spellers "lack awareness of the presence of base forms within derived counterparts, and they lack specific knowledge about how to spell suffixes and how to attach suffixes to base words correctly”1987, pp. 106-107



GREEK WORD ORIGINS• a y for /i/ as in symphony and typhoid

• a ch for /k/ as in chorus and chaos

• a ps for /s/ and in pseudonym and psychology

• a ph for /f/ as in sphere and epitaph

• the letter x as in xylophone, dyslexia, xenophobe

Greek morphemes have no strict structure: • graph• biography• graphic• mimeograph


Greek Combining Forms

hydro graph geo

pyro polis neuro

ortho scope photo

therm crat psych

chron phobe pseud

onym crypt helio

logy sphere the, theo


Counting in Greek and Latin

mono uni di

bi du, duo tri

tetra quadri penta

hexa sept oct

nove deca deci

cent milli poly

multi semi hemi


Developing content-specific, academic vocabulary depends on a basic understanding of Greek and Latin

Sixty percent of the words in English texts are of Latin and Greek origin Bear et al., 1996; Henry, 1997


photographpolygraphmimeographphonographtelegraphparagraph

telegrammammogramhistogramanagramcryptogrammonogramelectrocardiogram

photographercartographergeographercryptographerautobiographerxylographerpaleographerbiographer

graphitegraphemegraphologistgraphicgraphically

grammar schoolgrammar booksrules of grammargrammaticalgrammaticallyungrammaticalungrammaticallygrammatology

graph

grammar

gram, graphto write, written

Greek

gram


Look Inside—Look Outside pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

1. Look inside the word for known word parts: prefixes, roots or combining forms, suffixes.

2. Use the analogy strategy—“I don’t know this word, but I know pneumonia and I know volcano, so by analogy, this word might have something to do with lungs and heat.”

3. Look outside the word at context clues, visuals

The coal miners, coughing and wheezing, suffered from pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.


SO MANY ENGLISH WORDS

Oxford English Dictionary ~615,000 words

Webster's Third New International English Dictionary ~450,000 words

~200,000 words in common use

Millions with technical and scientific terms

(Bryson, 1990; King, 2000)


SO MANY SYNONYMS

ANGLO-SAXON, FRENCH, LATIN, and GREEK

Anglo-Saxon French Latin or Greek

cook sauté concoct

holy sacred consecrated

kingly royal regal

wreck sabotage subvert

hearten encourage inspire

show cinema theater

See also Bryson, 1990; Lederer, 1991; King, 2000


ENGLISH: A RICH VOCABULARY

SO MANY SHADES OF MEANING

“A Positive Emotion”

GLAD PLEASED DELIGHTED

OVERJOYED HAPPY CAREFREE

LIGHTHEARTED MERRY JOYOUS

JOYFUL CHEERY CHEERFUL

CONTENT BLITHE BLISSFUL

SATISFIED BOUYANT BEATIFIC

ECSTATIC EUPHORIC EUPEPSIC


Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes

he has to eat them!

--Adlai Stevenson


Danke

Merci

Gratias ευχαριστώ /efharisto/

THANK YOU

Susan Ebbers 20051 All words are pegs to hang ideas on. --Henry Ward Beecher When the mind is thinking, it is talking to itself. --Plato The limits of.

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