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Shuting Shen
Morphology paper
The Contrasts Between the Negative Prefixes un-, in-, non- and dis-
Introduction
ESL/EFL. This course not only introduces some basic assumptions about language, but also
focuses on the main topics of the course, English phonology, and word-formation. Several
previous studies have been carried out concerning the origins and semantic features of different
negative prefixes un-, in-, non- and dis-. In the historical process of the development of English
words, there has been morphological processing of the relationship between the form and the
words’ meaning (Booij, 2016). During the study of English, affixes are one of the important tools
to broaden vocabulary. Therefore, dealing with affixes is one of the methods for managing a
morphology was first named morphology by the German linguist August Schleicher in 1859. He
used morphology to study the forms of words (Booij, 2012). Morphemes are the constituent parts
of morphology and the smallest units of meaning in a language (O'Grady, Dobrovolsky &
Katamba, 1997). Morphemes can be divided into different groups according to different criteria.
One of the criteria is to divide morphemes into inflectional morphemes, derivational morphemes,
and roots. The derivational morpheme attaches in front of the root of a word is defined as a
prefix. Furthermore, many prefixes denote a negative meaning in English (Dzuganova, 2006).
The characteristics of semantic features and the formation of words are different because of the
differences in etymology. The study of the negative prefix in English can be used to understand
morphology better. There are at least ten English prefixes that denote negative meaning, like a-,
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 3
an-, in-, im-, il-, ir, de-, dis-, mis-, non-, un- and so on (Dzuganova, 2006. Dzuganova, 2007).
The prefixes un-, in-, non-, and dis- are the most common negative prefixes. Because of their
different etymology, these negative prefixes have different characteristics and different semantic
features, which cause significant obstacles and confusion for beginners. The study of the
characteristics and semantic features of these negative prefixes can help us to understand their
word formation and semantic features, grasp their usage characteristics, and improve our ability
to construct words and efficiently expand vocabulary that improves the ability to read, listen,
The negative prefixes which come from a language are combined with other stems of this
language in neologisms (Dzuganova, 2006). Because of the difference between the etymology
and the semantics of English negative prefixes, they have specific characteristics of word
formation. Also, there are three primary sources of English derivatives: Greek, Latin, and Old
English. So, the stem of a combination with a particular negative prefix also comes from that
In- is a prefix from Latin that means the opposite of the stem meaning. There are two
prefixes spelled in- that are from Latin, but they are not related (Dzuganova, 2006). In addition
to the basic form of in-, due to the influence of the sound assimilation, there are three other
variant prefixes that mean the same thing as the prefix in-. The first is il- that appears before the
stem at the beginning of the l letter. The second is im- which appears before the stem words
beginning with m, b, p. The third is ir- that appears before the stem word beginning with the r
letter (Okada, 2008). These are the four forms that are a group of negative prefixes derived from
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 4
Latin (Andreou, 2015). The negative prefix in- (im-, il-, ir-) means “not” or “not accurate”
(AHD, 2011), as in inaccurate, illegal, informal. In addition, in many contexts, the words with
these negative prefixes must be translated into words that are opposite to their roots under most
circumstances (e.g., illegible, impurity). When adding the prefix in- , it constitutes nouns and
adjectives that mostly contain strong emotional colors including criticism, blame or complaints.
formation with the prefix in- are clear through these examples.
The negative prefix dis- was borrowed from Old French which was derived from Latin
(Andreou, 2015). Dis- is a Latin prefix that means “reverse of the stem” and can be combined
with verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Dis- can be added before the verb and noun, equivalent to
“not, opposite of, the absence of” (AHD, 2011). Example would be disagree, disinterest,
disorder, discourage. Besides, dis- can be added before the adjective that means “not” (AHD,
2011), as in disloyal, dishonest. As shown in examples 1 and 2 below, the negative prefix dis-
means “remove, the opposite action” and the words formed by it are often matched with "from."
The negative prefix non- comes from Latin, which means “not” (AHD, 2011). It can be used
before nouns and adjectives and non- has frequently been used for words developed in the 19th
adherence, non-producer, nonresident. Quirk (2010) states that the negative prefix non- means
“not or absence of something.” It can be used with adjectives, adverbs, and nouns. For a noun
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 5
example, non-smoker which means a person who does not smoke (Dzuganova, 2006). In
addition, in most cases, when non- is used in conjunction with other words, generally hyphens
are used. For example, non-elimination, non-stop, non-finite, etc. There is not a verb that can
combine with non- because non- never combines with verbs (Dzuganova, 2006).
The most commonly used negative prefix is un- which comes from Old English
(Dzuganova, 2006). It can be widely used with nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs and results
in the formation of a variety of negative relations, such as unnatural, unambitious. Un- has
basically two meanings when added to adjectives. With adjectives it means “not, opposite or
contrary to” (AHD, 2011). For example, the word lucky means “producing or resulting in good
by chance” and the word unlucky has the opposite meaning “likely to bring misfortune”. Un- is
a prefix that can be freely added to many adjectives before the stem. Although the un- can be
added to an adjective, not all adjectives can add prefixes for the corresponding antonyms. In
general, the negative prefix un- mainly attaches to simple adjectives with an Old English basis
(Subandowo, 2017), such as unclean, unhappy, unwise, unafraid. Un- does not attach to
adjectives that already have a negative connotation. Thus, we do not say unsick, unfoolish,
unwrong, unrude and so on. Also, when un- is added before verbs, the basic meaning is the
“reverse, remove, opposite of” (MWAL, 2008). For example, the word settle means to make or
become calm, untroubled, composed. The word unsettle means to make troubled, anxious or
uncertain. Besides, un- is one of the most widely used negative prefixes in English. The negative
prefix un- combines with those borrowed words to create new words (Lehrer, 1995), and
The Latin prefix in- was very popular in the past, but now the productivity has been greatly
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 6
reduced. It can no longer be synonymous with the English native synonym un-. So, when using
un-, learners should pay attention to the difference between in- and un- (Subandowo, 2017).
Since the prefix is derived from Latin, Latin suffix words can be used on a stem with the prefix
in-. Examples would be incessant, incoherent, indefinite, invisible, but there are exceptions like
unfortunate. Latin suffixes such as -able, -ed, -ful, -like can go on the end of the word with an
un- prefix, such as uncontrollable, unhatched, unworthily and so on. Some Latin suffixes can no
longer attach to a word with a prefix in-, but can with a prefix of un-, such as, uninspiring,
uninvited, unimaginable. Those which have added a Latin suffix and usually cannot use un-,
Non- is a negation of the stem, but it is used far less than un- and in-. Un- adjectives and in-
adjectives have negative meanings, while non- adjectives show neutral colors (Subandowo,
The antonyms cannot be inserted into a spectrum of meaning where words that represent
different degrees of nature, and the derived antonyms formed by the prefix un- would fit. The
two levels can be inserted into the middle of the nature of the words (Subandowo, 2017). For
example, “unmoral”, “unartistic” and other words can appear in the syntactic framework
“subject + is (rather / extremely / very / awfully) + adj”. This framework can help us to detect
whether the adjectives are hierarchical (Andreou, 2015). The framework is precise because the
non-constituent adjectives are not hierarchical, so the general professional meaning of the word
before the addition of the prefix non-constitutes a negative, such as linear-non-linear, metal-
nonmetal. The general meaning of the word plus un- constitutes a negative, such as graceful-
ungraceful, quiet-unquiet.
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 7
Semantic Features
In a large number of English words, there are many words that share the same root but
have different prefixes. In the implication of the semantic features the difference is observable.
Beginners often only pay attention to the form, while ignoring the meaning of words, which is
not good because the intrinsic meaning of the word requires in-depth study and research. In a
wide range of English words, there are a lot of words that share the same roots, but have different
prefixes. Especially helpful are those that form words with the same root. However, a variety of
negative prefixes may cause significant problems for English learners. It is often difficult to
distinguish between semantic meaning and learners cannot always grasp the use of the situation.
The precise grasp of the negative prefix semantic features is the key to learning and application.
In contrast to un-, the prefix dis- most effectively attaches to verbs and has less efficiency
in nouns and adjectives. The prefixes un- and dis- both work as the negative role that means “not,
in contrary to, opposite” (AHD, 2011). When dis- the means “remove,” the prefix is attached to
verbs only; when un- conveys the meaning of “reversal of an action or state” (AHD, 2011), the
prefix is also attached to verbs only. However, un- and dis- have different functions. Dis- has two
functions that are “remove” and narrow function from root to prefix words, which is different
from un-.
As for un-, it has the same functions as in- (Okada, 2008). In- attaches to adjectives and
nouns, and un- attaches to three lexical classifications (Bauer, Lieber, & Plag, 2015). Un- and in-
are two negative prefixes, not only from the etymological point of view because they have their
own word formation characteristics, but from the word point of view. Therefore, with already
negative words we should not use un- because this is a negative prefix. For example, “foolish”
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 8
does not become “unfoolish” and “ugly” does not become “un-ugly”. Furthermore, the
inclusiveness of English and the absorption and assimilation of foreign languages make the rules
slightly different, depending on the original language. Some Latin suffixes are also used in
Some of the stems can be used with the two negative prefixes, but the meaning is different. For
example, invaluable means “value cannot be measured” (AHD, 2011), but un-valuable means
“no value.” Un- denotes contrary negation that refers to “a specific point on the negative side of
a positive-negative continuum.” As for non-, it means contradictory negation that refers to “the
whole of the negative side of the positive-negative continuum” (Allen, 1978). As shown in
(Allen, 1978)
When used in conjunction with an adjective, non- distinguishing things that do not belong
to the type indicated by the stem, whereas un- distinguishes something that is different from the
exemplary nature of this type. For example, “nonmilitary personnel” refers to people who are not
in the military, and “unmilitary” refers to the opposite of typical military in the clothing, habits or
attitudes of different people. Un- and non- are the prefixes that are negative in meaning, but un-
is less strong than non-, and un- often does not have the meaning of neutral (Dzuganova, 2008).
With non-there is not always negative meaning of the words, such as a non-scientific book which
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 9
means that it is a book not related to science (possibly a novel or biography). An unscientific
book is a scientific book but with the evaluation of low quality. Unacademic is not academic
referring to the absence or lack of academic features. Non-academic refers to the concept of the
category (academic) that it does not belong to. Brief summary of the usage of the four prefixes (c)
Conclusion
This paper focuses on two different aspects: the characteristics of the English word
formation of prefixes un-, in-, non- and dis- and the semantic features in the English negative
prefixes un-, in- non- and dis-. Also, I have demonstrated these four kinds of English negative
The most common negative prefixes in English are in-, un-, non- and dis-. Despite the
negative connotations, there are still differences in semantic features and word formation. The
study concludes that the negative prefix in- is a Latin prefix, which is generally associated with
Latin borrowings. Negative prefixes in- (il-, im-, ir-) are derived from Latin, and can be used
before nouns and adjectives. Dis- is from Latin, which can be added before nouns, verbs, and
adjectives. The negative prefix non- comes from Latin, which can be added before adjectives but
not verbs. Un- comes from Old English, which can be added before verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
The words with the negative prefixes un-, in- and dis- have different parts of speech and
meaning, but the commonality of these three negative prefixes is that all are equivalent to “not”
Although the number of English words is huge, the number of roots, prefixes, and
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 10
suffixes that add to words are limited. Grasping the meaning of roots and knowing the different
meanings of these prefixes can generally allow students to infer a lot of new meanings. It is
important to understand the negative prefixes in English to enlarge vocabulary. In my view, the
process of learning English affixes is an important tool for expanding vocabulary, so mastering
affixes are one of the active ways to learn and understand a large number of words. As a future
English teacher, I believe I have a better understanding of these negative prefixes un-, in-, non-
and dis- from this paper research. Also, I will teach it to my students so that it can help them to
References
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Andreou, M. (2015). Lexical negation in lexical semantics: the prefixes in-and dis. Morphology,
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Bauer, L., Lieber, R., & Plag, I. (2015). Negatives. The Oxford reference guide to English
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Dzuganova, B. (2006). Negative affixes in medical English. Bratislavske Lekarske Listy, 107(8),
332- 335.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2011.
Lehrer, A. (1995). Prefixes in English word formation. Folia linguistica, 29(1-2), 133-148.
Okada, A. (2008). The linguistic features of the negative prefix non-: comparison
O'Grady, W., Dobrovolsky, M., & Katamba, F. (Eds.). (1997). Contemporary linguistics. St.
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Quirk, R. (2010). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Pearson Education India.
Education, 3(2). with in- and un-. Linguistic education research, 25, 163-178.
THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE NEGATIVE PREFIXES UN-, IN-, NON- AND DIS- 13
Appendix
Table 1