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Morphology

Class Changing Prefixes


1. a- // this is prefixing forms adjectives, but not exclusively from forms which are
ambiguous between nouns and verbs. For examples :
Wash becomes awash means terapung-apung
Sleep becomes asleep means tertidur
2. be- this is prefixing forms transitive verbs from adjectives, verbs, or nouns. For
examples :
Calm becomes becalm means menenangkan or tenang lah
Friend becomes befriend means berteman, menolong
3. en- this is prefixing forms transitive verbs from nouns. For examples :
Tomb becomes entomb means memakamkan
Slave becomes enslave means memperbudak
4. Other prefixes are:
un for unlimited means tak terbatas
dis for disable means melumpuhkan
de for deactivate means menonaktifkan
non for nonalcoholic means tanpa alcohol

Class-maintaining prefixes
1. Used exclusively with a noun base
Arch- This is prefix is added to human nouns to denote an extreme or pre-eminent
person. For example:
Bishop becomes Archbishop means Uskup besar
Mini- here, this prefix can be distinguished, but they all appear to be limited to
noun bases. For example:
Computer becomes minicomputer means komputer kecil
Step- for example:
Mother becomes stepmother means Ibu tiri
Prefix is a word or letter placed at the beginning of another words or a base word to adjust or
qualify its usage or meaning.
Used exclusively with a verb base
The use of this kind of prefix is infrequently and this kind of prefix in a class
which change the prefix it self. For example de has distinguishable meanings
and is often in competition with dis- and un-.
Example: dethrone means displace, declaw means unreachable, dealcoholized
means remove alcohol from drink, etc.
Used exclusively with an adjective
"a-" is a Greek prefix meaning "not" or "without". It is found almost exclusively
with words formed from Greek roots. You can usually spot these by the spellings:
"ph", "th", "y", "rh", "chr", "pn", "mn", final "sis" or "ic".

theist / atheist
chromatic / achomatic
rhythmic / arhythmic
symmetry / asymmetry
This prefix is found mostly in scientific terminology, especially in the medical sciences.
"agranulocytosis", "apnea", "amenorrhea", "anemia", "apraxia", "amitosis".

However, these are not cases where the prefix was applied to an already existing word. Most
people know these words as a single unit. They are unaware that the initial "a" has a separate
meaning of its own. These should be learned separately, as there are very few pairs like those
cited above.

This prefix is also confusable with the native English prefix "a-", as in "ago", "asleep",
"aside", which does not have anything to do with negation.

Prefix added to nouns and verbs
Fore- is a prefix, which is means before. This prefix is commonly come before
noun. For example, forehead, forearm, and forerunner.
Re- is kind of prefix means again. This prefix is commonly used before verbs.
For example, rerun, recycle, etc.


Prefixes added to nouns and adjective
"in-" is a prefix from Latin, so it is usually seen when the root is from Latin.
While native English roots tend to be monosyllabic, Latin roots tend to be
polysyllabic. "in-"changes to "im-" before "m", "p", and "b". It changes to "il-"
before "l" and to "ir-" before "r". This pattern is quite common with adjectives
(derived from Latin).

articulate / inarticulate
polite / impolite
possible / impossible
modest / immodest
legal / illegal
reverent / irreverent
regular / irregular
sanity / insanity


Latin also uses the prefix "in-" in other ways, not necessarily for negation, so caution is
advised! For example, "improve" is not the negation of "prove"! Probably the most
maddening of these is the word "inflammable", which means the same thing as "flammable",
not the opposite! You will sometimes see the word "nonflammable", which is more clearly
the opposite of "flammable

mid means in a middle of. This prefix is extremely limited productivity. Originally used
exclusively with nouns. For example mid test, mid morning, mid November, etc. other prefix
in this group is ex- which is mean former. For example, ex wife, ex president, ex lecturer, and
etc.

Prefixes Added to Verbs and Adjectives
This category is rare, even with the prefix given here, nominalization of the verbs are
common.

a. Circum-
This prefix found in Latin words only, but later it is used with English bases. The
examples of verbs are: circumnavigate and circumscribe. And the example of
adjectives are circumjacent and circumpolar, with a recent example circumstellar.
Prefixes added to Nouns, verbs, and Adjectives.
b. counter-
Marchand (1969) notes this prefix as being used with nouns and verbs with the
occasional deverbal adjective. Recent examples, however, also include adjectives.
Recent examples on a nominal base are counterculture, countereffect, counterstrike.
On verbal base: counterdemonstrate. On an adjective base: counterattractive,
counterintuitive, and counterproductive.
c. dis-
In the formation of verbs, this prefix is also added to nouns and adjectives. Example:
disbenefit, disinformation, disambiguate, disemplane, and disbound
d. Another example of this category are: co- (co-author, co-articulate, and co-
equal), inter- (interdependence, intermix, interdigital), and sub- (subwarden,
sublet, subconscious).
Suffixation
In this section, suffixes are classified according to the form class of the derivatives they
produce. No attempt at exhaustiveness has been made in the lists of illustrations provided in
each section.
Suffixes Forming nouns
a. Nouns from nouns
-dom This suffix forms abstract, uncountable nouns from concrete,
uncountable ones. For a long time it was thought that the suffix was
moribund or totally non productive, but Wentworth (1941) showed that it had
never completely died out, and it is still productive in contemporary English,
though not very much so. Recent examples include Dollardom, fagdom,
gangsterdom, girldom (all OEDS)
-ess This suffix forms female human nouns from unmarked or male human
nouns, showing either professional status or the status of the woman's
husband. Of recent years, this suffix has met with a certain amount of
disapproval from feminists, but it is still productive at the moment, though
the productivity is limited because of competition from other pattern, notably
compounds with a first element woman and the (especially US) suffix ette.
The only word in -ess listed by Barnhart et al. (I973) is astronautess, but I
have also attested seeress (woman clairvoyant).
-iana This suffix is added almost exclusively to human proper, nouns to form
uncountable nouns meaning 'things, especially literary facts, connected with
the person in the base. Recent examples listed in the OEDS include
Butterfieldiana, Etoniana, flunkeyiana, railroadiana.
Other suffixes which produce nouns from nouns are -er (Birch > Bircher), -
ette (kitchen> kitchenette), -hood (man > manhood), -ism (absentee>
absenteeism), -let (stream > streamlet), -ling (duck > duckling), -scape (sea >
seascape), -ship (kin > kinship). This list is not exhaustive.

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