The meaning of words in Chief Tecumseh's speech.

1. Introduction

Hey guys! My name is Eugenia Jimenez, how are you doing today? In this English
lesson, we are going to review words and derivations. Let’s take a look at some
definitions.

Do you remember the meaning of the word etymology?

Etymology refers to the study of word origins and the way words have changed
over time.

2. Definitions

Let’s review together the definition of derivation.

- Derivation refers to making new words from an existing word by adding affixes.

An affix is a set of letters, or sometimes a word, that can be added to the beginning
or the end of another word by modifying its meaning.
- Can you recall the types of affixes? Simple; they are called PREfix and SUffix.
A prefix is added to the beginning of a word, hence the “pre”- meaning “before”.
A suffix is added to the end of a word.

For example: the word “midnight” can be broken down into “mid-“and “night”. “Mid-”
means middle. When added to night, the meaning of the word turns into: middle of
the night.
Can you think about examples of a suffix?
 - Many words in English contain suffixes. They can be used to turn verbs or
adjectives into nouns (or vice versa). They are very commonly used in adjectives,
and almost all the time give clues to the meaning of the word.

Let’s take a look at this table and help me fill in the blanks:

Suffix Verb or Adjective Noun

-ment (condition of) 1.Punish 1. Punishment
2. Argue 2.
-er (one who) 3. Read 3. Reader
4. Run 4.
-ize (become) 5. Finalize 5. Final
6. 6. Standard
-less (without) 7. End 7. Endless
8. 8. Effortless
-able,-ible (capable of being) 9. Present 9.
10. Reverse 10.
-ful (notable for) 11. 11. Beautiful
12. Fancy 12.

Table 1 - Complete

Were you able to fill in the blanks?

Notice example 11, 12. Do you see something different?
Not all the suffixes can be added to words without changing the letters. With words
ending in “y”, the addition of the suffix may change the “y” to an “i”.
In these examples, you can appreciate how the letter “y” in beautiful and fancy, has
to be replaced by an “i” when the suffix –ful is added.

3. Morphology

Do you know what morphology means? Morphology is the study of words, which
gives meaning to different parts just like prefixes, suffixes, and base words - or
root (the smallest units of meaning).
Let’s look together at Shawnee Chief Tecumseh speech: “Address to General
William Henry Harrison”.

As we start reading or listening to this text, we can notice the particular word
selection being used.

Shawnee Chief Tecumseh speech: “Address to General William Henry Harrison”.

Houses are built for you to hold councils in. Indians hold theirs in the open air. I am
a Shawnee. My forefathers were warriors. Their son is a warrior. From them I take
my only existence. From my tribe I take nothing. I have made myself what I am.
And I would that I could make the red people as great as the conceptions of my
own mind, when I think of the Great Spirit that rules over us all. I would not then
come to Governor Harrison to ask him to tear up the treaty [the 1795 Treaty of
Greenville, which gave the United States parts of the Northwest Territory].

But I would say to him, "Brother, you have the liberty to return to your own country."
You wish to prevent the Indians from doing as we wish them, to unite and let them
consider their lands as a common property of the whole. You take the tribes aside
and advise them not to come into this measure. You want by your distinctions of
Indian tribes, in allotting to each a particular, to make them war with each other.
You never see an Indian endeavor to make the white people do this. You are
continually driving the red people, when at last you will drive them into the great
lake [Lake Michigan], where they can neither stand nor work.

Since my residence at Tippecanoe, we have endeavored to level all distinctions, to

destroy village chiefs, by whom all mischiefs are done. It is they who sell their land
to the Americans. Brother, this land that was sold, and the goods that was [sic]
given for it, was only done by a few. In the future we are prepared to punish those
who propose to sell land to the Americans. If you continue to purchase them, it will
make war among the different tribes, and, at last I do not know what will be the
consequences among the white people.
Brother, I wish you would take pity on the red people and do as I have requested. If
you will not give up the land and do cross the boundary of our present settlement, it
will be very hard and produce great trouble between us.

The way, the only way to stop this evil, is for the red people to unite in claiming a
common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be now -- for it
was never divided, but belongs to all.

No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers.

Sell a country?! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the
Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?

How can we have confidence in the white people? We have good and just reasons
to believe we have ample grounds to accuse the Americans of injustice, especially
when such great acts of injustice have been committed by them upon our race, of
which they seem to have no manner of regard, or even to reflect. *When Jesus
Christ came upon the earth you killed him and nailed him to the cross. You thought
he was dead, and you were mistaken. You have the Shakers among you, and you
laugh and make light of their worship. Everything I have told you is the truth. The
Great Spirit has inspired me.

What is the first word derivation we notice?

Forefathers: it contains the prefix “-fore”, meaning “former”, accompanied by the
base word “fathers”, referring to fathers from past generations; ancestors.
It is important to notice that this text is rich in word derivations, but let's focus on
the most noticeable ones.

What other words do we see?

In the third paragraph, we notice the word “mischiefs''. This is another example of a
word derivation using a prefix.
Can you tell what the prefix is and its meaning?
“Mis-“, means wrong or false, modifying the word chiefs to attribute a negative
connotation to it.
Shawnee refers to mischiefs in his speech as misconduct or trouble, when
referring to all the bad things the “chiefs” have done.

4. Meaning and Power

Now let’s all look at the last paragraph of Shawnee’s speech.

What word derivations can we identify? How do they bring meaning, power, and
purpose to the text?
In the last paragraph the word “injustice” is mentioned repeatedly.
If we take a closer look at this word, what do you think it means?
The prefix “in-“in this case means “not”; changing the meaning of the word “justice”
with its addition to represent the lack or the opposite of justice.

(P2) Another word to highlight is “mistaken”. This word contains the prefix
“mis-“ together with the word taken, to represent the meaning it was taken in a
false or wrong manner.
- Can you see how this word derivation enriches the message in the text?

5. Conclusion

In this class we were able to review the definitions of etymology and word
derivations. We learned about affixes and how they can change the meaning of a
word.
As we read Shawnee’s speech, we were able to determine how word derivations
bring richness, diversity, and meaning to a text. As you read texts or listen to
speeches, think about what you learned today.

When you start to learn the meaning of affixes, they can help you infer the meaning
of a word even if you don’t know it!

Until next time!

Reference:
www.americanrhetoric.com
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/nativeamericans/chieftecumseh.ht
m
https://www.cpalms.org/