Morphology: English
Words are Formed in a Variety of Ways
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Think about the words you know. Have you ever considered how those words “came to be?” In English words come about through many processes. One way is through a process known as combining which is also how most new words are formed.
Examples of combining:
compounding (catnap) . . . putting two morphemes together
prefixing (uncommon) . . . adding a morpheme to the beginning of another morpheme
suffixing (playful) . . . adding a morpheme to the end of another morpheme
infixing (fanfriggintastic) . . . putting one morpheme (in this case a shortened slang word
friggin) in the middle of another morpheme (fantastic)
As teachers, we need to be prepared to answer questions about word formation AND to show kids how words are formed. Specifically we must teach common prefixes, suffixes, and root words. This will enable our ELLs (and native English speakers too) to expand their vocabulary without even knowing they are doing so.
Source: Curzan & Adams (2012), pp. 110-117.
Examples of combining:
compounding (catnap) . . . putting two morphemes together
prefixing (uncommon) . . . adding a morpheme to the beginning of another morpheme
suffixing (playful) . . . adding a morpheme to the end of another morpheme
infixing (fanfriggintastic) . . . putting one morpheme (in this case a shortened slang word
friggin) in the middle of another morpheme (fantastic)
As teachers, we need to be prepared to answer questions about word formation AND to show kids how words are formed. Specifically we must teach common prefixes, suffixes, and root words. This will enable our ELLs (and native English speakers too) to expand their vocabulary without even knowing they are doing so.
Source: Curzan & Adams (2012), pp. 110-117.