Spelling Binoculars–Can You See the Meaning?
Our investigation into the spelling of binoculars came from reading an Andy Shane series book. This seasoned first grade tutoring student really enjoys this series and she asks questions about word she notices.
I asked if she noticed any interesting words.
“Yeah, I did. Scooted, swallows, unzipped, collected, binoculars,” she replied.
Good ones. Which one is the most interesting that we could investigate?
“Binoculars.”
We finished the chapter and then we’d check it out. Before we began reading again, she wanted to write down its spelling so we’d have it when we finished. (so cute!)
Let’s hit those 4 Questions of Structured Word Inquiry: Binoculars
What does it mean?
“Things you look through for bird- or animal-watching, anything you want to look at.”
How is it built? See any prefixes or suffixes?
“Looks like an <-s> suffix.”
Could there be a prefix: <bi-> & maybe the base will come from <nocular>?
<Bi-> has the sense of “two, twice,” like bimonthly (as in twice a month). Wait. I always get that confused, I told her. ‘Bimonthly’ means it happens every two months.
Okay, what is the ‘noc’ in ‘binocular’? I wondered aloud to her.
“I don’t know. You should look it up,” she responded knowing from experience that we’ll find out more on Etymonline.com.
Our hypothesis of the structure: bi + nocular + s
What are its relatives?
Can we use this word without the <-s>? If something is ‘binocular’, maybe? What would that mean? (I hope that our discussion will lead her to question when she’s on her own.)
binocular (adj.) 1738, “involving both eyes,” earlier “having two eyes” (1713), from French binoculaire, from Latin bini “two by two, twofold, two apiece” (see binary) + ocularis “of the eye,” from oculus “eye” (from PIE root *okw- “to see”). The double-tubed telescopic instrument (1871, short for binocular glass) earlier was called a binocle. Related: Binocularity; binocularly.
Oh, we realized this isn’t <bi->, it’s <bine> through the Latin root bini. The <n> in the spelling belongs with the base <bine>. I know the <e> is there because this base also shows up in <combine>. The etymology gave us clarity on the structure of this word. There’s no <noc>. The prefix <bi-> and <bine> base are related through a common Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root, *dwo- “two”, close but not the same morpheme.
It says, “involving two eyes.” I draw her attention to the second aspect of the meaning. What part of the spelling has to do with ‘eyes.” Ocular like ocular nerve. I point out the Latin root, ocularis, which came from oculus, in the entry and the modern English morpheme, <ocule> in our word.
“Having two eyes”. Then our hands become our pretend binoculars. What would it be called if we only had one eye involved? I remove one of my pretend “binoculars” from my face. She laughs.
How would we show our word sum now? bine + ocular + s.
Could we refine <ocular> further?
Check the matrix below. Then, my student was ready to move on. It’s a balancing act to give her opportunities to see how the morphemes work together, to learn how the history of words is key to the current spelling, and to keep her attention and interest. (My curiosity level isn’t always my student’s level. I don’t want my students to feel like kids watching their self-absorbed friend endlessly play a one-player video game.)
What are its graphemes & phonology?
Next, she noticed the /j/ and wondered why we use /j/ to represent the phoneme spelled with <y> in yes and you. Good question, I told her I wasn’t sure and would find out.
IPA-International Phonetic Alphabet-is international. In Central European languages like German and Polish, the grapheme <j> has the same phonetic value as our English <y> consonant does, and the IPA symbol /y/ is used for phonemes used in other languages. Next session, we’ll talk about this. I’ve wondered the same thing and now I know because of my first grade student’s question.
Most of all, what I loved about this session was her certainty that there are answers to her questions about English. Spelling binoculars was just another example. Use this resource to study binoculars with your students.