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Another phrase stuck out to me from my reading- "galaxy of impermanence." I'm well aware of this word's meaning and the author's intent in using the phrase. However, sometimes, I get curious about a word's base. This word also brings up another structural element I see here and there that I'm curious about.
In this investigation, you'll see how meaning and structure are intertwined. We'll look at the paired derivational suffixes <-ent> and <-ence> and see how they provide information about a word's class. You'll see one way nouns can function in sentences. We'll check out an assimilated prefix, and we will learn how to get an English base from a Latin verb. We learn of two other word formation process: blends and clips. And maybe you'll learn what Frenchifying means.
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Meaning
What is this word's meaning and how does the word function?
The meaning and structure of this word are so intertwined for me, it is hard to separate into the two questions. There are two forms of this word, the noun form impermanence, which the entry in the Collins dictionary informs us means "temporary; not lasting." We also have an adjective form, impermanent.
Some words conjure up memories in our minds, and for me, I can remember being a child in kitchens and dining rooms with the chemical smell of Lilt in the air and soft squishy curlers littering the table while one of my great aunts gave my grandmothers their permanents. In this sense, permanent is a noun. We can tell because we can pluralize it-permanents. We also know because it works as the object of a sentence:
- My great aunt gave my mother a permanent.
Nouns can function as objects of a sentence, both direct and indirect.
When we change the suffix from <-ent> to <-ence>, we also have a noun form.
- The falling leaves perfectly illustrated impermanence.
We can use permanent and impermanent as adjectives, modifying nouns.
- After Saturday's game, we have a permanent spot in the championships.
- The impermanent sandcastle washed away with the evening tide.
In the first sentence, the adjective is modifying spot; and in the second sentence, it is modifying sandcastle.
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Structure
What are the elements that make up this word's structure?
Of course, looking at the structural elements, the affixes <-ent> and <-ence>, is also a part of the question of structure, or morphology, the way words are built.
imperman + ence
There's another affix,
im + perman + ence
The prefix assimilated version of the prefix impermanent is "not permanent." This is one way structure assists meaning.
So does this mean, permeable and permafrost.
im + perm + ane/ + ence
Is it possible that there is an element
I'm going to jump directly to the entry for permanent, and I learn there that there's further analysis that can be done. The word permanent is from the Latin per, "through," which has also become a word in English, and the verb manere, "stay." Although this looks like a word sum, it is not. We have to take our knowledge of how a Latin verb becomes an English base and do the work ourselves.
English bases primarily come from the second and fourth principal parts. The second principal part is also known as the Latin infinitive and may end in <-are>, <-ere>, or <-ire>. When we remove those infinitive suffixes, we are left with a form that gives our English base. In this instance, we are left with
im + per + mane/ + ence
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Relatives
What are the word's relatives and history?
One way to look for relatives in the same morphological family is to take that infinitive form and plug it back into Etymonline. Some entries will not share the root, but it will give you plenty of relatives if they exist.
For example, I found the relatives immanent and manor. I also found an etymological relative from the fourth principal part--mansion.
The word manner is in the list of entries, but its root is from manus, "hand." IThe search returned it because the French root from which it's derived is spelled
We also have the words remain and remainder, which have a Frenchified form. When a word is modified through French phonology, we often say it is Frenchified. Many digraphs, like the
If we go back to the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root, we also find other etymological relatives like menial and menage.
Turns out permeable is not related; its root is the Latin meare, “pass.” However, permafrost is related, but was coined by a geologist. It is a blend of permanent and frost. Blends are formed by parts of other words that may or may not be elements.
And when my grandmother said she was going to get her perm? Turns out that’s a clip. Clips are formed by removing perceived elements.
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Graphemes
What can the pronunciation of the word teach us about the relationship of its graphemes and its phonology?
The graphemes in this word are spelling expected pronunciations. This word could be "sounded out," but who has time? It's a long word! By the time my students get to the fourth or fifth grapheme, they forgot how the first one was pronounced! Some say syllabication is the answer, but that leaves us with this:
im. perm. a. nence
That's fine. That will get you there if pronunciation is what you want. However, when that <-ence> suffix remains visible by doing words sums instead...and students learn the suffix derives nouns...now we are on to real learning that is interconnected and not isolated word to word.
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Next Steps
What concepts from this investigation can we explore next to learn more about the English orthographic system?
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Are there other suffix pairs like <-ent> and <-ence> that give us different word classes, or parts of speech? |
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I mention digraphs as a good sign of Frenchifying. Can you and your students begin collecting these words and comparing them with their direct Latin counterparts? What do you notice? What do you wonder? |
Don't you love that when you combine the structural elements that the word permanent is "staying through?" By extension, impermanence is "not staying through." When we teach students structure, it can assist with vocabulary and reading comprehension. When we simply teach grapheme-phoneme correspondences and syllabication, it is just simply pronunciation; and we all know kids who can pronounce the words but don't understand anything they just read. For so many of them, the impermanence of "letters and sounds" just doesn't stick.
Stay curious,
Brad
Join the community!
P.S. What concepts in this investigation confused you? Reply and let me know, and we will puzzle through it together.
P.P.S. There is yet another form of this suffix: <-ency>. Look at each version of a word, adding <-ent>, <-ence>, and then <-ency>. What do you wonder? What do you notice? If <-ency> still forms nouns, why do we need it? (start with emergent/emergence/emergency).
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