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The lexical item un- is an affix, and more particularly, a prefix. Un-, as with other affixes, is also a bound morpheme, that is, an item which is attached to another morpheme to modify its meaning, but which cannot stand alone of and by itself. Un- must be attached to either a root i.e. a base word that has every other attachment stripped from it and is not further analysable into meaningful elements ('do'), or a stem, a word together with any affix already added ('tested').
Some affixes may alter a word's grammatical category, as when the -ed suffix is attached to the verb 'drown', creating the second form, or past tense 'drowned'. Un-, however, does not change the grammatical form of the word, and so is said to be purely derivational, while -ed is termed an inflectional suffix.
Un-, while being chiefly attached to adjectives (unlikely) and present participles used as adjectives (unfeeling), can, in other instances, though less frequently, be attached to nouns (unrest) and verbs (unsubscribe). In one instance, un- alters the lexical category of a word: when added to the past participle, or second form, of a verb, un- transforms the verb into an adjective form (untested).
Spelling
Unlike examples of particular suffixes which necessitate a change of spelling when joined to a word, the attachment of un- does not require any spelling modification, and is simply attached before the root or stem. This has the effect of forming words with double consonants where words begin with the same letter as the last letter in the prefix, as in 'unnatural'.
Un- is regularly hyphenated before words that are capitalised: 'un-American', 'un-Christian'.
Meaning and use
When an affix is attached to a given root or stem, as in the case of un- with 'do', it has the quality of changing the word's semantic properties, so that 'do', as a verb, meaning to perform some task, activity or job, becomes the mutually exclusive verb 'undo' meaning to have the effect of changing something back into its original.
In most grammar books, un- is classed together with other prefixes bearing a semantic similarity such as in-, anti- and non-, and is normally described as negating the root/stem it becomes attached to. While verb formations with un- are most often used to describe the reverse action of the meaning of the original word stem (undress), it can also be used to connote meanings of release, freedom, and extraction (uncage, untangle etc.). When added to the past particple, or second form, of verbs to form adjectives, it has the meaning that the process described by the verb has not yet happened ('The room was uncleaned'). Un- can also express the meaning of 'violation' as in 'unconstitutional'.
Application
Un- can be attached to a range of different parts of speech, including verbs, adjectives, and nouns. Un- is an example of a prefix that is highly 'productive'; that is, '... applied to a considerable number of stems and which could be applied to make new English words. Compared with dis- for instance, which does not appear to be productive in modern English, un- is usually the preferred prefix with newly coined words – ungooglable, unhackable being two of many examples of recent neologisms. Un- is also used in many non-standard examples of English ("un-break my heart").
Notes and references
- Roach, Peter, English Phonetics and Phonology, Cambridge University Press, 1998. P96.
See also
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