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Yes, we have our third week in a row of words to investigate that end in <-ity>. Perhaps we can dive a little deeper into this suffixal construction. But it's not the suffix that intrigues me here; it's the possible base. Or maybe two bases? Could the vision or visual? And does that mean the
And as we do, we will also learn about noun phrases and their component parts, including determiners. We will learn the valuable scientific thinking principle of Occam's Razor. We will also clarify what allomorphsare.
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Meaning
What is this word's meaning and how does the word function?
When I think of viscosity, I think of glue or honey dripping from the bottle. (hint, to get more honey out, spray your spoon with cooking spray) Some oils have viscosity.
With a student, we might do an image search. A quick one in DuckDuckGo (the search engine I use with students, as it is supposedly "safer") turned up pictures of spoonfuls of honey compared to water, as well as motor oil, maple syrup, and molasses. We might add these pictures to their notes to help them retain meaning.
As with other words ending in the suffixal construction <-ity>, this word is a noun, according to the entry in the Collins dictionary. They describe it as being "thick and sticky."
As a noun, the word can serve as the head of a noun phrase. Other words in a noun phrase include adjectives and determiners. Determiners are words that specify nouns. They include the articles a, an, and the. They also include demonstrative words like these and those. You might use quantifiers to talk about some apples or most apples. Even number words can be determiners as we say four apples or no apples.
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Structure
What are the elements that make up this word's structure?
When we peel off our suffixal construction, we have a hypothesis for our word sum of:
viscos + i + ty
Occam's Razor, or the law of parsimony, is used in scientific thinking. It recommends that our explanations be as concise and include as few items as possible. We might propose that there is a suffix <-ty>, like in safety, as well as a suffix <-ity>, but that would add an additional item that may be unnecessary. When you look at the history of words with these suffixes, they all have a Latin <-itas> or <-itatem>, regardless of whether or not they include that connecting vowel letter or not. Suggesting two different suffixes when they have similar origins complicates matters for students.
As I looked at that proposed word sum, I was reminded of a second suffix.
visc + ose/ + i + ty
I know that the stressed form of the suffix <-ous> is <-ose> as in verbose or grandiose. Since I'm familiar with the adjective viscous, I'm thinking that may be what is happening here.
However, I need evidence for my hypothesis. So I turn to Etymonline.
The entry in Etymonline confirms this entry from Old French and Late Latin. If I follow the link to the entry for viscous, I find more information (always follow the links). These words both derive from the Latin noun viscum which is a word for "anything sticky." This word is also the modern genus name for mistletoe. If you've encountered mistletoe in the wild, you'll know why.
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Relatives
What are the word's relatives and history?
If we wanted to create a matrix, we'd have to include words that also can be traced back to viscum with a base of viscid. I thought we might have visceral and eviscerate to add, but those come from a different Latin root meaning "guts." Looks can be deceiving.
If we trace our word all the way back to Proto-Indo-European (PIE), it may be related to virus.
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Graphemes
What can the pronunciation of the word teach us about the relationship of its graphemes and its phonology?
In our last two investigations, we looked at atrocity and apricity, where the
The suffixal construction <-ity> has an interesting convention when it comes to word stress. When a word ends with <-ity>, the primary stress will fall on the antepenultimate syllable. Now the ultimate syllable would be the final syllable. So the penultimate syllable would be the next to last. So the antepenultimate is the one that comes before (viscosity, that would be the syllable /kɑs/. For atrocity, that would be /trɑ/, and for apricity, that would be /prɪ/.
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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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Pull out some noun phrases from texts students are reading. Can you identify the adjectives, nouns, and determiners? |
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Have you ever looked at the allomorphs of <-ous> and <-ose>? Allomorphs are different forms of the same morpheme. |
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How much does that note about stress and the suffixal construction <-ity> help you? Some may find it more helpful than others. See what you note. |
Many people through the years have asked me for a list of word elements. My first response is to ask what they would use such a list for. Those lists which often have meanings like "state or quality" listed for suffixes like <-ion> or suffixal constructions like <-ity> are meaningless. Those definitions mean nothing to most students I've worked with. I hope you have learned more about the suffixal construction <-ity> in the past few weeks through our investigations of atrocity, apricity and viscosity than any list you find on the internet can give you. Do you and your students a favor and investigate the "meanings" in those words, in those specific contexts, and you and your students will walk away with greater understanding. Ditch the lists before you get yourself in a "sticky" situation.
Stay curious,
Brad
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P.S. The determiners a and an are allomorphs too. Which allomorph to use is dependent upon the environment upon which it appears. Do you or your students know when to use a vs. an? (hint: vowels)
P.P.S. Jen and I are thinking of running another cohort of Connecting the D.O.T.S., our look at exactly how to investigate words and practice scientific word study with students. If you are interested, join us and register here.
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