One Step Now Education
November 22, 2024
stagnation
I was reading and came across a phrase: benevolent stagnation. Either word in that phrase would be a great word investigation, and seeing as how I’ve already looked at words with the element <bene>, I’m going to dive into stagnation. Wonder if stag, as in a deer, might be related.
Meaning
What is this word’s meaning and how does the word function?
When I was younger, there was a place at the end of my street with a large hole that regularly filled when it rained. As the water would take its time receding, mosquitoes would begin to swarm and algae formed. My mother used to caution us about playing in the water, because the water was stagnant. My associations with this word are always about standing water.
However, the entry for stagnate in the Collins dictionary is much broader, stating that stagnating is a verb to indicate that something isn’t “changing or progressing.” Other senses included refer to the cessation of the flow of water, and “to become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water.”
Structure
What are the elements that make up this word’s structure?
The words I already have used in this investigation help me with hypothesizing the structure:
stagnate
stagnation
Now I know this is a word sum:
stagnate/ + ion
My mother also referred to the water as stagnant.
stagnant
stagnation
That helps me see that the <-ate> is also a separate element, as it doesn’t occur on stagnant.
stagn + ate + ion
So, is the base <stagn>? Let’s look for the root of this word in Etymonline.
The entry for stagnate says:
from Latin past participle of stagnare,
from stagnatum “standing water”
Later in the entry, it says from a PIE root, but Proto-Indo European roots are reconstructed; we have no written evidence of how they were spelled. It also says that PIE root was the source of Greek stazein. This may give us information regarding the etymological relatives of stagnation.
Now that I have a root, I can determine the English base. We can look at stagnatum and remove the <-um> Latin suffix. We can also remove the Latin stem suffix <-at-> to arrive at our English base <stagn>.
Relatives
What are the word’s relatives and history?
One way we can find relatives is to take the root and plug it back into the search engine of Etymonline. Then, you can look through the results if the entries provided are also from the same root.
Along with stagnant, we have other relatives stagnation and stagnatory. Etymological relatives include stalactite and stalagmite, the geological cave formations. The word epistaxis is also listed as a possible relative. The word should be epistagmos, where I can easier see the relationship to stalagmites, but the word epistaxis is a “false reading,” according to Etymonline.
Graphemes
What can the pronunciation of the word teach us about the relationship of its graphemes and its phonology?
The graphemes here are spelling expected pronunciations. The <t> from our suffix <-ate> is palatalized and the vowel in the suffix <-ion> is schwa.
A quick note. Some instructors teach <st> as a “blend.” I’ve had many students over the years who confuse this with “blending,” or as some may refer to it “sounding out.” In linguistics, this is referred to as a consonant cluster. A consonant cluster is a group of consonants with no intervening vowel.
Some instructors teach these clusters as yet another thing for students to memorize in addition to the 26 letters and their “sounds.” The consonant cluster <st> in stagnation and other words like stop and stand is comprised of grapheme <s> and grapheme <t>, spelling /s/ and /t/ respectively. Why teach this as a separate unit known as <st>? Why complicate things? Help me understand.
Next Steps
What can we learn next about the English orthographic system?
As we study words with students, we may find they have connotations that are more personal and maybe even incorrect. How do we allow for students to make personal connections to words?
The suffixal construction <-ation> shows up frequently in words. You may want to locate and gather words with this construction.
Have you heard of phonesthemes? Some of these consonant clusters are associated with particular meanings. For instance, the <gl> cluster often refers to things that are “bright,” such as glow and gleam. However, as interesting as the idea is, we still have words like glad or globe which have nothing to do with “brightness.” What are other phonesthemes? Is <st> one?
Stay curious,
Brad
P.S. My favorite thing ever is reading replies to these investigations with something they learned. Or better yet, something they already knew but appreciated being reminded of. Best? Stories of students the investigation triggered. So reply to this email and let me know, eh?
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