Transcript Words

Morphological Analysis
for Word Meaning
Education 574
Spring, 2011
University of Bridgeport
Teaching students key vocabulary can
include teaching them to look for affixes
and root words that they know and can
help them determine the meanings of
new words as they read.
Morphology is…
morphe = form -logy = to study
• The study of meaningful units of language
and how those units are combined in
words
• Morpheme: the smallest meaningful unit or form in a
language
• Example:
cat
-s
cats (1 syllable word, 2 morphemes)
Why study morphology?
Knowing morphemes can help
us figure the meanings of
thousands of words.
Structural Analysis
• The number, order of and type of
morphemes used to make up a particular
word is called its structure.
Structural/Morphological Analysis
• For about 40-50% of words known by children,
there is evidence that they worked out meanings
by consciously combining prefixes and suffixes
(i.e. Un-, -able) with known root words or by
analyzing compound words into their components.
(Anglin, 1993)
More research is needed.
3 Layers of English
Greek 11%
Latin 55%
Anglo-Saxon 1%
Origins of the English Language
Important Teacher Knowledge
1.
Anglo-Saxon/ Germanic
Less than 1%
2.
Latin
Approximately 55%
3.
Greek
Approximately 11%
4.
French
A lot
5.
Others
And growing…
Anglo-Saxon/ Germanic
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The oldest
Less than 1% of our words
Make up over half of our written language
Most common and frequent
Ordinary, daily vocabulary (Tier 1)
Use syllable patterns: vc, v, v-e, vr, vv, -le
Least phonetic
Many irregular spellings, silent letters
Basically the entire Dolch List (High Frequency)
Examples: house, mother, of, was, though, cough,
goat, knee, could, love, cat
Latin Contributions
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Over half our words
Used in literature and textbooks
Long: usually have roots and affixes
Vowel patterns: v-e, v_, vr
Uses very few vowel teams
Never uses sh for /sh/, instead uses ti, ci, si, xi
Makes use of schwa
Are very easy to read once you know how
Typical structure:
prefix + root + connective + suffix
trans
port
a
tion
Bound Morphemes
Bound morphemes:
Have meaning, but cannot stand alone.
Bound morphemes are referred to as affixes
Prefix: transSuffix: -able
• There are two types of affixes;
• There are two types of bound morphemes;
prefixes and suffixes
Prefix
Letters added to the beginning of a
(base/root) word that changes its meaning
un-
pre-
re-
trans- inter-
sub-
Suffix
Letters added to the end of a (base/root)
word or another suffix that changes its
meaning or the way it can be used in a
sentence.
There are two types of suffixes
Suffixes
Inflectional Suffixes change the way a word can be
used in a sentence (and meaning).
Plurals
(s, es) “cats,” “foxes,” possessives “cat’s”
Adjectives
comparatives (er. est) = “faster,” “smallest”
Verbs
tense (-ed, -ing, 3rd person singular -s) “hunted,”
“standing,” jumps
Suffixes
Derivational Suffixes: Suffixes that change the
meaning of a (base/root) word (and its function
in a sentence).
encourage
peace
dent
encouragement peaceful dentist
Inflectional suffixes can be added
to a derivational suffix
summary/ summarize/ summarizing
compete/ competition/ competitions
Free morphemes: Have meaning and can
stand alone.
Free morphemes are referred to as roots
lock
Compound Words
A compound word is made when
two words are joined to form a new
word.
A compound word is made when
two free morphemes are joined to
form a new word.
Compound Words
lifetime
elsewhere upside grandmother
cannot
baseball fireworks passport
become became
sunflower crosswalk
basketball superstructure
3 morphemes
un + lock + ing
bound
prefix
free
root
bound
suffix
Root
The form of a word after the affixes (prefixes and
suffixes) are removed.
Reporter
contracting
transformed
-ject = to “throw”
•
• e (ex) (“out”)
Verb
eject
• in
(“in”)
inject
• pro
(“forward”)
project
(-tion “the act of”)
Noun
ejection
• inter (“between”)interject
• sub
• re
(“under”)
(“back”)
reject
subject
injection
projection
interjection
subjection
rejection
Greek Contributions
• 11% of our words
• Language of science
• Uses combining forms, meaning each word part
has equal value
• Uses ph = /f/, ch = /k/, y = short/long i, long e
• Scientists use Greek combining forms to create
new words
-graph “to write” -logy “to study”
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bio
“life”
auto “self”
geo
“land”
-ist
“person”
choreo “dance”
cardio “heart”
chrono “time”
biography
autobiography
geography
geologist
choreograph
cardiologist
chronology
biology
geology
biologist
Syllables versus Morphemes
Word
dogs
unlike
elephant
humorous
wiped
biosphere
incredible
Syllables
Morphemes
When do we teach?
• Grade 1 introduce the concept with very basic common
morphemes (suffixes: -ing, -ed, -er, -est) Can introduce the
Latin elements such as the prefix ex-, pre• Grades 2/3 continue with common prefixes and suffixes, use
compound words to develop the concept of morphology
• Grade 3/4 introduce the most common Latin roots, continue
with affixes
• Grades 5-6 study in depth Latin roots and affixes, introduce
Greek, chameleon prefixes
• Grades 7/8 study in depth Greek combining forms
• High school continue studying the most sophisticated
morphemes
7 Guiding Principles for Morphemic
Instruction
• Provide explicit instruction in how morphemic analysis
works
• Teach most common, most transparent first
• Examine relationships between words through “word
families”
• Provide a structure so students can use analysis
independently
• Sufficient review and practice to build automaticity
• Summarize and reflect on the lesson content, structural
patterns and procedures
• Be clear that it (morpheme analysis) doesn’t always work
Lesson 1
Setting the stage using compound words
Objectives:
1. Define the term morpheme
2. Know that parts of words carry meaning
3. Knowing the parts can help define the
whole
4. Know it doesn’t always work
Lesson 2:
Examples versus Non-examples
Objective:
1. Define prefix.
2. Define suffix.
3. Locating examples/ non-examples of the prefix prepretty prevent
Locating examples/ non-examples of the suffix –ing
looking vs. king
Typical Introduction
T: Present orally: support, transport, import, export,
report
S: Repeat above
T: In what way do those words sound the same? (port)
T: Presents visually above words
S: Reads words
T: In what way do these words look the same (p,o,r,t)
T: Where is “port” p,o,r,t in the words?
T: What does “port” mean? How does “port” change the
meaning of the root word?
port
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•
• tra
•
to carry
My brother needed
transportation to
the airport.
Introduction: “tion”
T: Present orally: support, transportation, invitation,
S: Repeat above
T: In what way do those words sound the same? (shun)
T: Presents visually above words
S: Reads words
T: In what way do these words look the same (t,i,o,n)
T: Where is “shun” t,i,o,n in the words?
T: What does “shun” mean? How does “tion” change the meaning
of the root word?
-tion words
• Verb
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collect
invent
infect
perfect
elect
experiment
explore
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Noun
collection
invention
infection
perfection
election
experimentation
exploration
-the a is a bridge to get us from the word to -tion
A word about the really weird
looking suffixes:
Some suffixes look really hard and scary, but
once you understand them, they are easy to
read. They always say the same thing:
-cian /shin/
-xious /shus/
-cious /shus/
-tial
/shul/
-tious /shus/
-cial /shul/
The key ci and ti make the sound /sh/.
The spellings alter to accommodate whatever came
before it in the word.
Examples of student tasks:
• Read the room for prefix/ suffix of the day or to
review several affixes
• Grab any text and search for morpheme of the
day, list on paper
• After doing several affixes, teacher posts several
base words, teams mix & match base words and
affixes to make as many words as possible in 1
minute
• Cumulative review Bingo- affixes on board, T
calls out definition, S match to affix
Building a Morphology Board
Prefixes
preundis-
Latin Roots
ject
spect
dic/dict
ree-, ex-
Suffixes
-ing
-ful
-ly
-tion
rejection
predicting
disrespectfully
Your Turn
Write your Greek or Latin root in the center of the web. How many
related words can your team come up with?
Resources for Beginning the
Study of Morphology
• Ganske, K. Mindful of Words. Guilford Press. 2008.
• Henry, M. Words. Pro.ed. 1990.
• Johnson, K & Bayrd, P. Megawords Workbooks 2-8.
EPS. 2002.
• King, D.H. English Isn’t Crazy! Pro.ed. 2000.
• Numes & Bryant. Improving Literacy by Teaching
Morphemes. Routledge. 2006.
• Websites of interest:
http://etymonline.com
http://wordinfo.info