- English prefixes
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English prefixes are affixes (i.e., bound morphemes that provide lexical meaning) that are added before either simple roots or complex bases (or operands) consisting of (a) a root and other affixes, (b) multiple roots, or (c) multiple roots and other affixes. Examples of these follow:
- undo (consisting of prefix un- and root do)
- untouchable (consisting of prefix un-, root touch, and suffix -able)
- non-childproof (consisting of prefix non-, root child, and root proof)
- non-childproofable (consisting of prefix non-, root child, root proof, and suffix -able)
English words may consist of multiple prefixes: anti-pseudo-classicism (containing both an anti- prefix and a pseudo- prefix).
In English, all prefixes are derivational. This contrasts with English suffixes, which may be either derivational or inflectional.
Contents
Selectional restrictions
As is often the case with derivational morphology, many English prefixes can only be added to bases of particular lexical categories (or "parts of speech"). For example, the prefix re- meaning "again, back" is only added to verb bases as in rebuild, reclaim, reuse, resell, re-evaluate, resettle. It cannot be added to bases of other lexical categories. Thus, examples of re- plus a noun base (such as the ungrammatical *rehusband, *remonopoly) or re- plus an adjective base (*renatural, *rewise) are virtually unattested.[1]
These selectional restrictions on what base a prefix can be attached to can be used to distinguish between otherwise identical-sounding prefixes. For instance, there are two different un- prefixes in English: one meaning "not, opposite of", the other meaning "reverse action, deprive of, release from". The first prefix un- "not" is attached to adjective and participle bases while the second prefix un- "reverse action" is attached to either verb or noun bases. Thus, English can have two words that are pronounced and spelled the same and have the same lexical category but have different meanings, different prefixes, a different internal morphological structure, and different internal bases that the prefixes are attached to:
- unlockable "not able to be locked"
- unlockable "able to be unlocked"
In the first unlockable "not able to be locked", the prefix un- "not" is attached to an adjective base lockable (which, in turn, is composed of lock + -able). This word has the following internal structure:
- [ un [ [ lock ]verb able ]adj ]adj
In the second unlockable "able to be unlocked", the prefix un- "reverse action" is attached to a verb base lock, resulting in the derived verb unlock. Subsequently, the -able suffix is added after the newly created unlock adjective base deriving the adjective unlockable. This word has the following internal structure:
- [ [ un [ lock ]verb ]verb able ]adj
Only certain verbs or nouns can be used to form a new verb having the opposite meaning. In particular, using verbs describing an irreversible action produces words often considered nonsense, e.g. unkill, unspend, unlose, unring. These words may nevertheless be in occasional use for humorous or other effect.
Changes in lexical category
Unlike derivational suffixes, English (derivational) prefixes typically do not change the lexical category of the base (and are called class-maintaining prefixes). Thus, the word do consisting of a single morpheme is a verb as is the word redo, which consists of the prefix re- and the base root do.
However, there are a few prefixes in English that are class-changing in that the word resulting after prefixation belongs to a lexical category that is different from the lexical category of the base. Examples of this type include a-, be-, and en-. a- typically creates adjectives from noun and verb bases: blaze (noun/verb) > ablaze (adj). The relatively unproductive be- creates transitive verbs from noun bases: witch (noun) > bewitch (verb). en- creates transitive verbs from noun bases: slave (noun) > enslave (verb)
Native vs. non-native (neo-classical) prefixing
Several English words are easily analyzed as a combination of a dependent affix and an independent base, such as in the words boy-hood or un-just. Following Marchand (1969), these types of words are referred to as words formed by native word-formation processes.
Other words in English (and also in French and German) are formed by foreign word-formation processes, particularly Greek and Latin word-formation processes. These word types are often known as neo-classical (or neo-Latin) words and are often found in academic learned vocabulary domains (such as in science fields). Words of this nature are borrowed from either Greek or Latin or have been newly coined based upon Greek and Latin word-formation processes. It is possible to detect varying degrees of foreignness.[2]
Neo-classical prefixes are often excluded from analyses of English derivation on the grounds that they are not analyzable according to an English basis.[3] Thus, anglicized neo-classical English words such as deceive are not analyzed as being composed of a prefix de- and a bound base -ceive but are rather analyzed as being composed of a single morpheme (although the Latin sources of these English words are, of course, analyzed as such as Latin words in the Latin language).[4] However, not all foreign words are unanalyzable according to an English basis: some foreign elements have become a part of productive English word-formation processes. An example of such a now native English prefix is co- as in co-worker, which is ultimately derived from the Latin prefix com- (with its allomorphs co-, con-, col-, and cor-).
Initial combining forms vs prefixes
List of English prefixes
Native
Prefix Meaning Example a- verb > predicative adjective with progressive aspect afloat, atremble anti- against anti-war, antivirus, anti-human arch- supreme, highest, worst arch-rival, archangel be- equipped with, covered with, beset with (pejorative or facetious) bedeviled, becalm, bedazzle, bewitch co- joint, with, accompanying co-worker, coordinator, cooperation counter- against, in opposition to counteract, counterpart de- reverse action, get rid of de-emphasise dis- not, opposite of disloyal, disagree dis- reverse action, get rid of disconnect, disinformation en-/em- to make into, to put into, to get into enmesh, empower ex- former ex-husband, ex-boss, ex-colleague, exit fore- before forearm, forerunner in-/il-/im-/ir- not, opposite of inexact, irregular inter- between, among interstate, interact mal- bad(ly) malnourish mid- middle midlife mini- small minimarket, mini-room mis- wrong, astray misinformation, misguide out- better, faster, longer, beyond outreach, outcome over- too much overreact, overact post- after post-election, post-graduation pre- before pre-election, pre-enter pro- for, on the side of pro-life re- again, back rerun self- self self-sufficient step- family relation by remarriage stepbrother trans- across, from one place to another transatlantic twi- two twibill, twilight un- not, opposite of unnecessary, unequal un- reverse action, deprive of, release from undo, untie under- below, beneath, lower in grade/dignity, lesser, insufficient underachieve, underground, underpass up- greater, higher, or better upgrade, uplift with- against withstand Neo-classical
Prefix Meaning Examples Afro- relating to Africa Afro-American ambi- both ambidextrous, ambitendency amphi- two, both, on both sides amphiaster, amphitheater, amphibian an-/a- not, without anemic, asymmetric ana-/an- up, against anacardiaceous, anode Anglo- relating to England Anglo-Norman ante- before antenatal anti- opposite, against antivenom apo- away, different from apomorphine astro- star astrobiology auto- self autobiography, automatic bi- two bicycle bio- biological biodegrade circum- around circumnavigate cis- on this side of cislunar con-/com-/col-/cor-/co- together or with confederation, commingle, colleague, correlation, cohabit contra- opposite contradict cryo- ice cryogenics crypto- hidden, secret cryptography de- down depress demi- half demigod demo- people demography di- two dioxide dis-/di-/dif- apart differ, dissect down- to make something lesser, lower or worse downgrade du-/duo- two duet eco- ecological ecosystem electro- electric, electricity electro-analysis epi- upon, at, close upon, in addition epidermis Euro- European Eurocentric ex- out of export extra- outside extracurricular fin- kinship affinity Franco- French, France Francophile geo- relating to the earth or its surface geography gyro- spinning on an axis gyrosphere, gyrocopter hetero- different heterosexual hemi- half hemimorphic homo- same homogenous, homologous hydro- relating to water, or using water hydroelectricity hyper- above, over hyperthermia hypo- under or below something, low hypothermia ideo- image, idea ideograph idio- individual, personal, unique idiolect in- in, into insert Indo- relating to the Indian subcontinent Indo-European infra- below, beneath infrared inter- among, between intercede intra- inside, within intravenous iso- equal isochromatic macr(o)- long macrobiotic maxi- very long, very large maxi-skirt mega-/megalo- great, large megastar, megalopolis meta- after, along with, beyond, among, behind meta-theory micro- small microbacillus midi- medium-sized midi-length mon(o)- sole, only monogamy multi- many multi-storey neo- new neolithic non- not nonexistent omni- all omnipotent, omnipresent ortho- correcting or straightening orthodontics, orthotropic paleo- old paleolithic pan- all, worldwide pan-African, pandemic para- beside, beyond parallel ped-/pod- foot pedestrian, podiatrist per- through, completely, wrongly, exceedingly permeate, permute peri- around periphrase photo- light, photography, photograph photoelectric poly- many polygon post- after postpone pre- before predict preter- beyond, past, more than preternatural pro- substitute, deputy proconsul pro- before procambium pros- toward prosthesis proto- first, original protoplasm, prototype pseudo- false, imitation pseudonym pyro- fire pyrokinetic quasi- partly, almost, appearing to be but not really quasi-religious retro- backwards retrograde semi- half semicircle socio- society, social, sociological sociopath sub-, sup- below, under support super- above, over supervisor supra- above, over suprarenal sur- above, over surreal, surrender syn-/sy-/syl-/sym- together, with synthesis, symbol, syllable, system tele- at a distance telegraph, television trans- across transverse tri- three tricycle ultra- beyond ultraviolet, ultramagnetic uni- one unicycle vice- deputy vice-president, vice-principal Archaic
Prefix Meaning Example y- inflectional prefix yclad, yclept (both archaic words) Notes
- ^ Occasionally, these selectional restrictions are violated for stylist effect, as in the coinage of the word Uncola in Seven-Up soft drink advertisements. The prefix un- meaning "not" is typically added to adjectives, thus adding it to a noun cola makes the word more noticeable.
- ^ See Marchand (1969: 7).
- ^ See, for example, Quirk et al. (1985).
- ^ Marchand's (1969:5-6) argumentation: "Bearing in mind the bi-morphemic, i.e. two-sign character of derivatives and the ensuing opposability of both elements, it seems a little embarrassing to revert to the topic of the analysis of conceive, deceive, receive described as bimorphemic by Bloomfield, Harris and Nida. Newman establishes such suffixal derivatives as horr-or, horr-id, horr-ify; stup-or, stup-id, stup-efy. What are the bases horr- and stup- and what are the meanings of the suffixes? With the exception of ‘‘stupefy’’, which by forced interpretation could be made to look like syntagma, none of the 'derivatives' is analysable into two significates.... The fact that we can align such formal series as con-tain, de-tain, re-tain; con-ceive, de-ceive, re-ceive does not prove any morphemic character of the formally identical parts as they are not united by a common significate. The preceding words are nothing but monemes. Conceive, deceive, receive are not comparable to syntagmas such as co-author 'joint-author', de-frost 'remove the frost', re-do 'do again', the correct analysis of which is proved by numerous parallel syntagmas (co-chairman, co-defendant, co-hostess; de-gum, de-horn, de-husk; re-furbish, re-hash, re-write). If the two series con-tain, de-tain, re-tain / con-ceive, de-ceive, re-ceive, through mere syllabication and arbitrary division of sound complexes yield morphemes, why should we not be allowed to establish the similar morpheme-yielding series ba-ker, fa-ker, ma-ker / bai-ling, fai-ling, mai-ling? If we neglect content, how can we expose such a division as nonsensical? .... In fact, nobody would think of making the wrong morpheme division as our memory keeps perfect store of free and bound morphemes as significant/significate relations. It is only with a certain restricted class of words of distinctly non-native origin that we fall into the error of establishing unisolable morphemes.... If conceive, deceive, receive, are matched by the substantives conception, deception, reception, this is so because Latin verbs in -cipere are anglicized as verbs in -ceive while the corresponding Latin substantives conceptio, deceptio, receptio in English have the form given above. The alternation -sume vb/-sumption sb is obviously restricted to pairs corresponding to the Latin alternation -sumere vb/-sumptio sb. Nobody, unless he was trying to be witty, would extend the correlative pattern to pairs of words outside the particular structural system to which the words ultimately belong.... The natural synchronic description will therefore deal with foreign-coined words on the basis of the structural system to which they belong."
See also
External links
Bibliography
- Adams, Valerie. (1973). An introduction to modern English word-formation. London: Longman.
- Ayers, Donald M. (1986). English words from Latin and Greek elements (2nd & rev. ed.). Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.
- Bauer, Laurie. (1983). English word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Brown, Roland W. (1927). Materials for word-study: A manual of roots, prefixes, suffixes and derivatives in the English language. New Haven, CT: Van Dyck & Co.
- Cannon, Garland Hampton. (1987). Historical change and English word-formation: Recent vocabulary. New York: P. Lang.
- Jespersen, Otto. (1942). A modern English grammar on historical principles: Morphology (Part 6). London: George Allen & Unwin and Ejnar Munksgaard.
- Marchand, Hans. (1969). The categories and types of present-day English word-formation (2nd ed.). München: C. H. Beck.
- Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; & Svartvik, Jan. (1985). Appendix I: Word-formation. In A comprehensive grammar of the English language (pp. 1517–1585). Harlow: Longman.
- Simpson, John (Ed.). (1989). Oxford English dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Categories:- English grammar
- Prefixes
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