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When studying words scientifically, you can see a familiar word in a new light. I was familiar with the word derelict. I may have even used it once or twice. But never as a verb. Which is what the suffix <-ing> implies, right? Maybe we need to investigate.
This investigation will reveal the difference between synchronic and diachronic approaches to word study. We'll learn how to obtain the English base from a Latin infinitive. Along the way, we'll discover an orthographic denotation that connects abandoned buildings to widows, numbers, and even celestial events and surgeries. We'll also tackle that persistent question about r-controlled vowels that might finally settle a debate you've been having with colleagues.
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Meaning
What is this word's meaning and how does the word function?
In my early childhood, my father was a policeman, and I believe he first exposed me to the word derelict by referring to some of the local townspeople he picked up on occasion. The Collins dictionary confirms this definition as a derelict can be "a person who has no home or job."
The first definition, however, says that derelict also describes a building "that is empty and in a bad state of repair," reminding me of a word from an earlier investigation, dilapidated.
If we use derelict to refer to the person, we are using it as a noun. If we use derelict to describe a place, then we are using it as an adjective. But what about derelicting?
Collins had no entry for derelicting. I had not written down where I found this word, so I had no context for its usage. The Oxford English dictionary marks the verb as rare. As a verb it can mean "abandon" or "fail to observe."
- Friends must not be derelicted. --John Donne (1631)
Another interesting item I sometimes look at is the frequency of the word. The word derelict seems to have peaked in the 1930s-50s. Interestingly, I had once visited an exhibit on train history at a local museum where I learned about a whole "hobo culture" that coincided with the rise of train travel in America. I'm wondering if this steady rise in word usage, which began in 1870, and subsequent fall are connected.
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Structure
What are the elements that make up this word's structure?
I feel fairly safe that there is a suffix <-ing> on this word. I'm also wondering about
dere + lict + ing
Could the
de + re + lict + ing
We should ask our students for their reasons for their hypotheses. We might ask if there is evidence for these elements in other words they know. Just because the element doesn't show in other words doesn't mean it can't be an element, but if we know of its presence in other words, there may be a better chance that it is a possible element in the word under study.
I know there is a base conflict. I also know there is a base election. I'm not sure about
It's time to visit an etymological dictionary, like Etymonline, to help us understand the root and the history of this word.
The entry there confirms that the base is indeed from Latin. It also says it is the past participle of dereliquere, itself a derivative of de + relinquere, which is a derivative of re + linquere. Now these look like word sums, but they are not the same word sums we use as tools to confirm or deny the elements in a word. See, they still have the Latin verb form intact. The word sums we use in scientific word study are synchronic which in linguistics means the language at a particular point in time. For us, this would be Present Day English (PDE), the version of English in our neck of the woods in 2026. The opposite is diachronic linguistics which looks at language change through time.
To obtain the English base from a Latin infinitive, we remove the Latin suffix <-ere> to arrive at derelictus. When we remove the Latin suffix from that form, we arrive at derelict. The entry also confirms our hypothesis by acknowledging the prefixes as separate elements in the entry.
de + re + lict + ing
The Latin verb has an orthographic denotation of "leave." A word's orthographic denotation will maintain a sense in all of the derivatives of the word's family, no matter how faint. There is still a sense of "leaving" in the word derelicting, which means "abandoning." Over time, the word came to represent buildings that were "abandoned" as well as perhaps people left behind by society, unmoored with no home and/or job.
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Relatives
What are the word's relatives and history?
In my search for derelicting, I ran across the noun dereliction to add to a lexical matrix. We may have heard of a "dereliction of duty." Collins also lists derelictness, another noun, and derelictly, an adverb. We also have the words relict and reliction, used to refer to "widows" left behind by husbands.
The infinitive form provides us with some etymological relatives, delinquent and relinquish. We also have the word reliquiae, which is "what remains."
Interesting etymological relatives that are more distantly related include eclipse, which we investigated before, along with ellipse. We also have the medical prefix lipo- as in liposuction and the word loan, which comes from the Germanic side of the family.
The numbers eleven and twelve are also etymological relatives. They have a sense of "one left" and "two left" beyond ten. See how the sense of "leaving" permeates all of these morphological and etymological relatives?
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Graphemes
What can the pronunciation of the word teach us about the relationship of its graphemes and its phonology?
If there is one question I hear again and again, it's whether r-controlled vowels (as they are commonly known) are digraphs. My answer is always, "To whom does it matter?" I've run into many instructors who are so into phoneme-grapheme mapping that they must know the answer. But does it matter to the student?
The confusion comes because instead of the /ər/ we hear in words like person, we hear /ɛr/ like in cherry. To many the /ɛr/ has a clearer distinction between the two phones [ɛ] and [r], (Notice how we write phones in square brackets). The /ər/ of person, however, sounds like it "runs together" as one sound.
So if it's really important to your student (or to you, or some administrator, or someone you work for), then make a choice. Teach it as a digraph if it doesn't sound distinctive. Teach it as two separate graphemes if you hear a clear distinction. For me, it's distinctive enough. However, I also understand that keeping it intact as a digraph that can spell two different "sounds" may help some students.
"To whom does it matter?"
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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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We examined several forms built from derelict. I find myself using a word form chart with students more and more often. These charts have columns for noun, verb, adjective, and adverb. We may start with a word like grow in the verb column, then brainstorm growth for the noun column and grown for the adjective column. (Big Idea #4) |
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Perhaps the next time you are building a word family with your students, you can examine how the orthographic denotation shows up in the various relatives. (Big Idea #7) |
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Whether or not they are digraphs, the r-controlled vowels are often worth studying. Do the other r-controlled vowels spell multiple phonemes across different words? (Big Idea #8) |
As we leave this word investigation behind, I'm left with that central idea of how a word's orthographic denotation can echo across the centuries and continents, showing up in words that we wouldn't think to connect. Think of how much richer language will be for our students who scientifically study words with us. When I first started studying words this way, I would occasionally long for the ease of the "six-step" lesson plan and drills of my previous practice when words became "hard" or when tackling an Etymonline entry felt thorny. Now I can see that not studying words scientifically with my students would be a serious dereliction of my duty to teach how our language system actually works.
Stay curious,
Brad
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PS. If you are interested in seeing those past investigations of dilapidated, eclipse, or election, or maybe the matrix for the base in conflict, then come join us in the Creating English Orthographers (CEO) Community where we have over 200 word investigations and 150 matrices at your fingertips to use with your students when you're feeling overwhelmed.
PPS. Now that you know some of the meaning behind eleven and twelve, have you ever wondered why December is the twelfth month of the year if it come from a root meaning "ten?"
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