When we know a word, we usually
know three things about it:
We make connections
between words with similar
sounds and spellings; thus
reinforcing meaning
Orthographic
Knowledge
(spelling)
Phonological
Knowledge
(sound)
Semantic
Knowledge
(meaning)
We build rich webs of
meaning between
related words
(schema)
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Language Units
• Phoneme:
– distinct sounds - about 45
• Grapheme:
– Letters that map onto sounds – about 250 in English
• Morpheme:
– smallest unit of language that has both sound AND meaning –
may be one or more syllables, may or may not be a word.
– Roots – word parts that CANNOT stand alone
– Base – words that CAN stand alone (i.e. but can’t be broken
down into smaller parts)
– Affixes – prefixes and suffixes
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Morphology Fun
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Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Ambulophobia
Anglophobia
Arsonphobia
Bibliophobia
Carnophobia
Chronophobia
Somniphobia
http://www.phobialist.com/#Ahttp://wordsmith.org/awad/english8.html
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• Once we know the sound,
spelling, and meaning of a
word, we can still learn more.
We can build deeper
understanding about a word
and be able to use it in many
different contexts.
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