Linguistics Girl

Investigating the Latin Third Declension and Oblique Stems: Bases, Stems, and Roots

The Latin third declension often gives English two related bases—one from the nominative singular and one from the oblique stem—and the same principle applies to suffixes like -tude and -tudine from Latin -tūdō. More

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Allomorphs and Parenthetical Morphemes in Structured Word Inquiry

Structured Word Inquiry uses parentheses to indicate that a morpheme surfaces as two or more allomorphs. More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Chandler’ and ‘Chandelier’

Investigate the words chandler and chandelier to uncover the Gallicized bound base <Chand> from Latin candēre “shine, glow, burn, white” and the -(e)le suffix from French -èle from Latin -ēla. More

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One Wife, Two Wives: Allophonic Origins of Modern Plural Allomorphs

Some nouns with Old English origins have different bases in the singular and plural. The plural allomorph developed from the allophony of Old English phonology. More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Migration’

Investigate the word migration to uncover the bound base <Migr> from Latin migrāre “move, change location.” More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Sustainability’

Investigate the word sustainability to uncover the bound base <Tain> from Old French tenir from Latin -tinēre from Latin tenēre “hold.” More

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Lexicalization of the Prefix bi- and the <Bi> Bound Base

The English morpheme comes from the Latin prefix bi- “two, twice, both, double.” Lexicalization in 1887 in the word biose change the morpheme from a prefix to a bound base. More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Environment’

Investigate the word environment to uncover the bound base <Vire> from Old French virer “turn” and the noun suffix -on. More

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Clipped Bases and Suffixal Constructions

Explore a detailed explanation of how to distinguish suffixal constructions from clipped bases in English word formation using Structured Word Inquiry. More

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Considering the -able and -ab(u)le Suffixes

Investigate the -able and -ab(u)le suffixes to discover different etymologies and meanings and learn about allomorphs, different forms that surface from the same morpheme. More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Significant’

Investigate the word significant to uncover the bases <Sign> and <Fic(e)> from Latin signum “identifying mark, token, indication, symbol, proof” and Latin -ficāre “make, do, create.” More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Different’

Investigate the word different to uncover the bound base <Fer(e)> from Latin ferre “bear, carry” that highlights that doubling can result from orthographic conventions conditioned by morphology and stress. More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Commemoration’

Investigate the word commemoration to uncover the bound base <Memor> from Latin memor “mindful, remembering, heedful, recalling.” More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Democracy’

Investigate the word democracy to uncover the bases <Deme> and <Crace> from Ancient Greek dêmos “district, common people” and krátos “might, strength, power.” More

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Using Structured Word Inquiry to Discover the <Cr> and <Cre> Bases and the -et(e) Suffix

Investigate the words adolescence, obsolete, concrete, and secret to uncover the bound bases <Ole>, <Cr>, and <Cre> and the -et(e) suffix. More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Colonisation’

Investigate the word colonisation to uncover the bound base from Latin colōnia “inhabit, settle, cultivate.” More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Domestic’ and ‘Amnestic’

Investigate the words domestic and amnestic to uncover the bound bases <Domest> from Latin domesticus “household, of the house” and from Ancient Greek mnē-, from mnáomai, mnâsthai, mnēmē “remember, be mindful” as well as the related bases and . More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Egregious’

Investigate the word egregious to uncover the bound base <Grege> from Latin gregāre and gregis from grex denoting “gather, group, flock.” More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Reconciliation’

Investigate the word reconciliation to uncover the bound base <Cile> from Latin conciliāre and concilium “council, meeting, coming together, calling” and multiple affixes. More

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Structured Word Inquiry of ‘Opportunity’

Investigate the word opportunity to uncover the free base <Port> from Latin portus “harbor, warehouse” and two semantically related bases from different Latin sources. More

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