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These words are often categorized as “irregular”
Making Sense of ‘Irregular’ Words
Sue Hegland
Structured Language Tutor
says
gone
they
been
said
what
does
there
move
goes
where
of
done
their
is
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Let’s start with these:
says
been
does
Why are these considered irregular?
What is actually driving their spelling?
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The spelling of <says>
The spelling of <says>
say
drive
play
drive + s --> drives
play + s --> plays
say + s --> says
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Making Sense of “Irregular” Words, May 11, 2016
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The spelling of <been>
Many “irregular” words are complex
I will ______.
past participle
I have ______.
take
rise
fall
eat
drive
be
take/ + en
rise/ + en
fall + en
eat + en
drive/ + en
be + en
taken
risen
fallen
eaten
driven
been
*bin?
*ben?
do
go
do + ing --> doing
do + es --> does
do + ne --> done
ing
es
ne
go + ing --> going
go + es --> goes
go + ne --> gone
See Pete Bowers’ work for more on this
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Why do we consider these words irregular?
says
does
gone
been
done
goes
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Why do we consider these words irregular?
Assumption: The purpose of the spelling system is
to represent pronunciation directly
speech --> text
Assumption: The purpose of the spelling system is
____________________.
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Why do we consider these words irregular?
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Why do we consider these words irregular?
Assumption: The purpose of the spelling system is
to represent pronunciation directly
Assumption: The purpose of the spelling system is
to represent pronunciation directly
speech --> text
speech --> text
What does the evidence show?
We teach frequency of grapheme usage right away;
we teach morphology later
say + s
do + es
go + ne
be + en
do + ne
go + es
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Making Sense of “Irregular” Words, May 11, 2016
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<c>
/ k/
before a, o, u
cat, cubic
/ s/
before e, i, y
cent, circus,
cycle
/ sh/ /ʃ/
<ea>
/ē/ /iː/
heal, feat
/ĕ/ /ɛ/
dealt, head
/ ā / /eɪ/
before e, i, (y?)
special, ocean
3 common
words: break,
steak, great
Why do we consider these words irregular?
Assumption: The purpose of the spelling system is
to represent pronunciation directly
“...the simple fact is that the present orthography is
not merely a letter-to-sound system riddled with
imperfections, but, instead, a more complex and
more regular relationship wherein phoneme and
morpheme share leading roles.”
speech --> text
Source: Venezky, Richard L.
“English Orthography: Its Graphical
Structure and Its Relation to Sound” in Reading Research Quarterly, Vol 2, No. 3
(Spring 1967) pp. 75-105
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Meaning
Morphology
Etymology
Phonology
Meaning
Morphology
Etymology
Phonology
source: realspelling.fr
source: realspelling.fr
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Making Sense of “Irregular” Words, May 11, 2016
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A better way to spell?
Homophone Principle
• hEr
When two or more words in English
are pronounced the same but mean
different things, whenever possible
they will be spelled differently.
• here, hear
Source: Venezky, Richard L.
The American Way of Spelling,
The Guilford Press, 1999
Homophone Principle
or way
aisle
tax
guest
aloud
praise
tease
tense
I scream your analysis
prey
predator
oar
weigh
I’ll
tacks
guessed
allowed
preys
teas
tents
ice cream
urinalysis
pray
A better way to spell?
ore
whey
isle
• hEr
• here, hear
• Homophones allow for rapid differentiation of meaning comprehension
prays
tees
obey
they
hey
survey
obey
obedient
*obay
• Spelling connects us to meaning through morphemes
and graphemes
The etymology of <said>
lay
pay
lays
pays
laid
paid
<ay>
say
says
<ai>
said
*sed
*siad
*sez
Making Sense of “Irregular” Words, May 11, 2016
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The synchronic etymology of <there>
hear
heard
herd
here
there
where
their possessive
them object
they subject
When? Then.
Where? There.
Whence? Thence.
“Buy one word, get lots more free”
We can make sense of
“irregular” words
“easily confused words”
Source: Gina Cooke
When?
Where?
Whence?
What?
Then.
There.
Thence.
That.
Source: Gina Cooke
Etymology drives grapheme choice
hear
here
Clarification questions?
prey
move
Making Sense of “Irregular” Words, May 11, 2016
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Mini Matrix-Maker Results
ed
Twin base
from Latin <movere>
ness
com
de
e
ile
ity
ion
al
pro
re
ed
mote
ive
or
o
ion
Mini Matrix-Maker Results
or
"move"
aut
ate
able
boat
man
mouth
way
ed
s
cycle ist
im
re
move
ed
un
"move"
ing
al
er
s
ment
go
er
ie
s
Multiple spellings for /oo/- /uː/
<oo> food
<ew> flew
<u> tuba
----<u-e> prelude
<ou> you
<ue> clue
<ui> juice
<eu> neutral
s
re + move --> remove
re + mote --> remote
ing
ly
<o> do, to, two
Word sums (9)
re + move + er +s
move + ment + s
im + move + able
move + ie + s
un + move + ed
move + s
move + ing + ly
re + move + al + s
move + ie + go + er + s
We can make sense of
“irregular” words
“easily confused words”
remote
remove
of
IF we study them
in relationship to words that
share structure and meaning.
That is how English spelling
works!
off
Making Sense of “Irregular” Words, May 11, 2016
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of
• Lexical (content) words:
nouns, verbs, adjective, adverbs
off
• “dictionary” words
• carry meaning in text
• stressed in connected speech
function
word
lexical
(content)
word
• “open class” - new words added all the time
• Function words:
articles, conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions,
auxiliary verbs
• “grammar” words
• often unstressed in connected speech
• “closed class” - English has roughly 300
Conventions
• Function words can be written with as few letters as
phonology allows, often 2 letters:
<as>, <in>, <on>, <go>, <by>, <I>, <a>
• Content words must be at least 3 letters:
<egg>, <odd>, <ebb>, <awe>, <err>, <dye>
• When function and content words are homophones,
content word will be longer when possible
Source: realspelling.fr
Function and content words
of
off
function
word
content
word
to
too
in
inn
by
bye
be
bee
do
due
but
butt
buy
dew
Why do we consider these words irregular?
“The gift that keeps on giving”
• Assumption: primary purpose of spelling is to
represent pronunciation directly
- Gina Cooke, Linguist~Educator Exchange
What about:
• What does the evidence in our writing system
show us?
is, has
No English function word contains a <z>
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Making Sense of “Irregular” Words, May 11, 2016
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Written English
What are the implications for instruction?
• Is an ordered system that is logical and understandable
• Start with the written form
• Is morphophonemic - phonology essential,
and is understood within morphological framework
• Systematic, direct, explicit study and instruction
• Study words with meaningful relationships - expands and
deepens comprehension of words along with spelling
• Start with meaning, morphology, etymology and THEN
phonology
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Meaning
Morphology
Etymology
Phonology
Webinars at ida-umb.org
• Structured Word Inquiry
- Pete Bowers, Word Works Kingston
• Insights into ‘Sight Words’
- Gina Cooke, Linguist-Educator Exchange
source: realspelling.fr
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Resources
Websites:
realspelling.fr
wordworkskingston.com
linguisteducatorexchange.com
etymonline.com
Contact:
Teacher blogs:
Lyn Anderson’s Early Years Blog - Beyond the Word http://wordsinbogor.blogspot.com
Scot Caldwell’s Grade 1 Blog (archived) https://smallhumansthinkbig.wordpress.com
Mary Beth Steven’s Grade 5 Blog http://mbsteven.edublogs.org
Dan Allen’s Grade 5 Blog (archived) http://blogs.zis.ch/dallen/category/languagespellingword-study/
Ann Whiting’s Grade 7 Blog https://wordinquiry.wordpress.com
[email protected]
More info on spelling:
realspellers.org
soundliteracy.com/blog/ - and see Sound Literacy on Facebook
Questions?
Books/Study Resources
LEX Grapheme cards, linguisteducatorexchange.com
LEX Word Matrices and InSight Word Cards, linguisteducatorexchange.com
Morphology: Henry, Marcia, Unlocking Literacy: Effective Decoding and Spelling
Instruction, Second Edition. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing, 2010.
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Making Sense of “Irregular” Words, May 11, 2016
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