Spelling Science with The Word Microscope
A Computer tool guiding the construction matrices from word sums
The structure and meaning test and the matrix
• Find the Word Microscope and other spelling tools by Neil Ramsden at this URL:
www.neilramsden.co.uk/spelling/
The Word Microscope is a tool that helps users construct matrices from
word sums as a means of investigating how spelling marks the interrelation
of structure, meaning, history and pronunciation in morphological families.
• Find related resources and a video of this investigation is here.
A scientific conclusion that words belong on the same matrix must
demonstrate that those words share two linguistic features:
1)Identify your “specimen” -- the word you want to investigate
a) Type your word in the “target word” section of the Active Word Sum Field.
b) For help with ideas for possible analyses, click the Ideas Probe button for support.
The same base element (written base) -- the structure test.
The same etymological root (historical origin) -- the meaning test.
The community that studies spelling with matrices and word sums is
familiar with Neil Ramsden’s other computer tool for constructing matrices
from word sums, the Mini-Matrix-Maker. That tool is very efficient for this
purpose, but it relies entirely on the user’s knowledge of word structure
analysis for rejecting false hypotheses.
a
b
By contrast, the Word Microscope is “structurally smart”.
Structure: The field for constructing word sums in the Word Microscope
draws on a large bank of morphological data. It is informed by the spelling
of many morphemes and the suffixing conventions.
The Ideas Probe is also guided by this morphological information. This
feature of the Word Microscope presents sets of words that are plausibly
structurally related. It is like a “structurally smart” Word Searcher --another
of Neil’s crucial contributions to the world-wide community of spelling
scientists.
Meaning: The Word Microscope also reminds users to always consider
meaning connections between words they investigate. It links to Etymology
On-Line to support application of the “meaning test”.
Click here for more detail on the structure and meaning test.
Working with this document:
What follows is a kind of map marking key points along the path of an
investigation of the word <discovery> guided by the Word Microscope. It
takes you though the process of the structure and meaning test, and
illustrates the key features of this computer tool.
Additional information and the full video of this investigation is at this link.
2)Analyzing a Word with the Ideas Probe:
Ask the Ideas Probe (the “Skopo” character) for hypotheses of possible word
sums for the word <discovery>.
Skopo presents two
hypotheses of the
morphology of
<discovery>.
The word sum with
<disco> and <very> is
structurally possible.
These words have no
plausible meaning
connection to the target
word, however. We thus
reject this analysis, and
investigate the other
hypothesis further.
Skopo’s word sum
discover + y ➔ discovery
is plausible in both
structure and meaning.
We explore this
hypothesized word sum
further to investigate
whether <discover> is a
base or whether it is
complex.
3)Evidence that <discover> is complex
With the guidance of the Ideas Probe (“Skopo”), we arrive at the working
hypothesis that <cover> is the base of <discovery>.
Skopo identifies a bank of 13 words that potentially
share the base <cover>. This is the “structurally
smart” Word Searcher.
We can choose words from this list to analyze with
word sums in the Active Word Sums field of the
Word Microscope. Each word sum we construct
automatically builds our matrix!
Again, Skopo presents two
structural hypotheses.
The lack of a meaning
connection between <disc>
or <over> with <discover>
guides us to explore the word
sum with the base <cover>
and the prefix <dis->.
If you want to
explore a larger bank
of words, click the
“Show all” button.
This gives you more
words to consider,
but you should
expect more false
positives to that you
need to reject.
The Ideas Probe reminds the
user to always check hypotheses
with the “meaning test”.
4)Search for relatives of the base <cover>
Based on our hypothesis that <cover> is the base of <discover>, we look
for other potential members of this morphological word family that would
belong in the same matrix.
5) Construct Word Sums and a Matrix From Word Bank
Draw from “Skopo’s” word list to start constructing your matrix.
Click this button to
look for possible
members of the
morphological
family of <cover>.
Type word sums in Active Word Sum field. Click the “Post-It Note” icon to post
your word sum in the Word Family Sums field and watch your matrix grow!
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Element Gallery
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Key
1) Active Word Sum: Word sums are constructed here and “posted” into various fields of
the Word Microscope. Each field is designed to reflect the morphological structures of
word families and how those written structure interrelate.
2) Word Family Sums: As word sums are “posted” in the Active Word Sum field, they
appear in the Word Family Sums field.
3) Matrix View: As each word sum is posted, a matrix grows in this field.
4) Element Gallery: This gallery contains morphemic elements (written morphemes).
Toggle between Your Elements and Skopo’s Elements.
5) Your Elements: The morphemes you type in the active word sum appear in this section
of the Elements Gallery.
6) Skopo’s Elements: This section of the Elements Gallery contains a bank of morphemes
to spark ideas for additions to your word matrix. Click on the ‘plus sign’ to open banks of
morphemic elements (bases, prefixes, suffixes and connecting vowel letters as shown in
this part of the diagram.
7) Log View: Click this button to turn the data of your investigation into a “scientific” log.
(See next page.)
9) Tools: Click for on-line references including Etymonline to inform the “meaning test” and
suffix checkers to review the suffixing conventions.
10) Save File: Each investigation can be saved at any time so that you can return to revise or
expand.
Log View
Log View:
The Word Microscope is a tool for scientific investigation of the morphological structure
of written word families. Clicking the “Log” button on the main Word Microscope screen
rearranges all the data from the user’s analysis into the format of a scientific log. The
default setting includes all the information shown above.
Choose this view to print the data of your investigation for further inspection and to
present your findings. It displays the original specimen word, the word matrix, the family
of words, each word sum, and the elements involved in the investigation. The user can
toggle between this view and the working mode of the Word Microscope shown on the
previous pages. Each investigation is saved with the name and date recorded.
• The Word Microscope was created by Neal Ramsden in collaboration with Pete Bowers of the WordWorks Literacy Centre.
• Go to this link to download the Word Microscope for free trial period.
• Explore www.wordworkskingston for more resources to facilitate scientific inquiry of English spelling through “structured word inquiry” (Bowers & Kirby, 2010)