susan ebbers 20051 english words from latin, greek, and anglo-saxon increase spelling, vocabulary,...
TRANSCRIPT
Susan Ebbers 2005 1
English Words
from Latin, Greek, and Anglo-Saxon
Increase spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension
Adapted from Susan Ebbers
Susan Ebbers 2005 2
Basic Terms
root 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 3
Three Periods of the English Language
•Old English ~A.D. 450-1100
•Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, (some) Latin
•Middle English ~A.D. 1100-1500
•French-Norman, Latin, Greek
•Modern English ~A.D. 1500-present
•Greek, Latin, Adopted English
Susan Ebbers 2005 5
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: Indo-European Origins
Susan Ebbers 2005 6
Basic Old English Words
Down-to-earth and true-blue, the first learned and the last forgotten.
We work and eat and laugh and weep,
Sing and play and rise and sleep,
Hope and pray with all our might,
Shun the wrong and love the right.
Susan Ebbers 2005 8
Latin: Some Common Roots
trans 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
Susan Ebbers 2005 9
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 underfedAnalysis: White, Sowell,
and Yanagihara 1989
Susan Ebbers 2005 10
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-
Susan Ebbers 2005 11
Derivational Suffixes
Derivational suffixes change the part of speech
• words ending with –tion are often nouns• words ending with –ive are often adjectives• words ending with –ish are often adjectives• words ending with –ity are often nouns
What about -ment, -ous, -ness?
Susan Ebbers 2005 12
English Language LearnersPROFICIENCY LEVELS
Intermediate Level: •Understands roots and affixes
•Decodes multi-syllabic words
Advanced Level:•Uses word parts to determine word meanings
Susan Ebbers 2005 13
Cognates Connect English and Spanish through Latin Origins
Romance Languages (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, etc.) share the same Latin roots
Morta: Roman goddess of death
Example: The Latin root for the word death is mort. The French spell it morte and the Spanish, muerte. In English, we have a whole network of related words: mortal, immortal, mortality, mortician, mortuary, postmortem, etc.
Ebbers, 2004
Susan Ebbers 2005 14
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
Susan Ebbers 2005 15
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
Susan Ebbers 2005 16
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
Susan Ebbers 2005 17
Content-Specific Greek Terms
Anatomy and Medical Terms
esophagus, thyroid, diagnosis, psoriasis, dyslexia
Studies and Sciences
biology, seismology, morphology, geochronometry
Animals and Plantsarachnid, amphibian, chlorophyll, dinosaur, nectar
Theatre and the Artscharisma, drama, chorus, muse, symphony, acoustics
Susan Ebbers 2005 18
photographpolygraphmimeographphonographtelegraphparagraph
telegrammammogramhistogramanagramcryptogrammonogramelectrocardiogram
photographercartographergeographercryptographerautobiographerxylographerpaleographerbiographer
graphitegraphemegraphologistgraphicgraphically
grammar schoolgrammar booksrules of grammargrammaticalgrammaticallyungrammaticalungrammaticallygrammatology
graph
grammar
gram, graphto write, written
Greek
gram
Susan Ebbers 2005 19
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.
Susan Ebbers 2005 20
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
Susan Ebbers 2005 21
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