THE STUDY OF ADJECTIVES WITH PREFIX IN- WITHOUT NEGATING THE STEM

THE STUDY OF ADJECTIVES WITH PREFIX IN- WITHOUT NEGATING THE STEM AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

DAUD NIANJAYA WIBAWA

  Student Number: 034214110

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY 2008

THE STUDY OF ADJECTIVES WITH PREFIX IN- WITHOUT NEGATING THE STEM AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

DAUD NIANJAYA WIBAWA

  Student Number: 034214110

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY 2008

  i ii

  iv

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my mentor Dr. Fr. B.

  Alip, M. Pd, M.A and Adventina Putranti S.S, M. Hum who have spared their time to give me some advice and guidance so that I can finish my thesis. I am deeply thankful to Jesus Christ who has always accompanied me in hard times during my study in this University.

  I would also like to thank my family for their love and spirit. I give thanks to all my friends, the students of 2003 English Letters Department Demus, Abit, Rian, Tio, Ginting, Muji, and others that have spent their time to help me during my confusing and boring hours. Thanks also to Gibran’s boarding house family Bagong, Bayu, Andre, Abit, Hendi, Nisar, and others who have spared their time to encourage and entertain me. I will always miss our WE moment.

  Special thanks to Tyas Intani, who has been my friend, my support, and my motivation. v

  TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………….. i

APPROVAL PAGE ……………………………………………………. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………. iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………. v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...……………………………………………. vi

ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………. vii

ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………. viii

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………. 1

A. Background of the study ……………………………………. 1 B. Problem Formulations

  ……………………………………. 3

  C. Objectives of the Study ……………………………………. 3

  D. Definition of Terms ……………………………………. 4

  

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ………………………...... 6

A. Review of Related Studies ………………………………….. 6 B. Review of Related Theories…………………………………... 8 C. Theoretical Framework …………………………………….. 24

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY …………………………………... 26

A. Object of the Study …………………………………………… 26 B. Approach of the Study ……………………………………….. 27 C. Method of the Study …………………………………………. 27 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS A. Adjectives Attached to Prefix in- with Positive Meaning and their Morphophonemic processes ...................................................... 29 B. The Most Common Characteristics

  …………………….. 38

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION …………………………………...... 47

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………….. 50

APPENDICES ……………………………………………………... 51

  vi

  

ABSTRACT

  Daud Nianjaya Wibawa. 2003. The Study of Adjectives with Prefix in-

  

without Negating the Stem. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters. Faculty

of Letters. Sanata Dharma University.

  The objectives of this study is to find out the adjectives which are attached to the prefix in- without negating the stem, their common characteristics and also their morphophonemic changes. There are two problems that will be discussed in this thesis. The first problem is what adjectives attached to the prefix

  

in- without negating he stem and what morphophonemic processes occur after the

  attachment of the prefix in- are. The second problem is what their common characteristics are.

  To accomplish this research, the writer has done the library research. It means that all of the writer’s data were taken from the book. The writer used dictionary as the primary source of the data. Due to the different dictionary entries, the writer used two dictionaries for this research. The dictionaries that the writer used here are The Oxford Dictionary of Etymology a n d Longman

  

Dictionary of Contemporary English. The writer will also use the Merriem

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition as the additional information

  about their etymology.

  The data of this research are adjectives that are attached to prefix in- without negating the stem. The writer can find nine adjectives as the data for this research. There are some similarities that can be found from the words that can be put in this category. The first similarity is the meaning characteristics of the adjectives itself. The attachment of prefix in- does not negate the meaning of the stem. The second similarity is the combination from the affixes. Some of the data use the combination between negative prefix in- and suffix –able. Among the nine adjectives, there are four adjectives that use this combination of affixes.

  In the morphophonemic processes, the writer found there are three processes that occur in the data. They are assimilation process, stress shift, and vowel change. However, the most common morphophonemic process that occurs in the data is the assimilation process. vii

  

ABSTRAK

  Daud Nianjaya Wibawa. 2003. The Study of Adjectives with Prefix

  

in- without Negating the Stem. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris. Fakultas

Sastra. Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Tujuan dari riset ini adalah untuk mengetahui kata sifat yang bisa dilekatkan dengan awalan in- dalam bahasa inggris tanpa menegasi kata dasarnya karakter mereka pada umumnya, dan juga perubahan morphophonemik yang terjadi pada kata- kata tersebut. Ada dua pertanyaan yang akan dibahas dalam riset ini. Pertanyaan pertama adalah kata sifat apa yang diawali dangan awalan in- yang tidak menegasi kata dasarnya dan perubahan morphophonemik apa yang ada di dalam data setelah data mendapat awalan in-. Pertanyaan yang kedua adalah apakah persamaan yang ada di dalam data.

  Untuk menyelesaikan riset ini, penulis menggunakan riset pustaka. Artinya data-data yang digunakan oleh penulis diambil dari buku. Penulis menggunakan kamus sebagai sumber utama. Karena adanya perbedaan pembendaharaan kata dalam tiap kamus, penulis menggunakan dua buah kamus. Kamus-kamus yang digunakan penulis adalah The Oxford Dictionary of

  

Etymology d a n Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Penulis juga

  menggunakan Merriem Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition sebagai informasi tambahan dari segi sejarah dari tiap kata..

  Data dari fiset ini adalah kata sifat yang diawali dengan awalan in- yang tidak menegasi kata dasarnya. Penulis berhasil menemukan sembilan kata sifat yang dapat digunakan sebagai data. Ada beberapa kemiripan dalam kata- kata sifat yang dapat dimasukan dalam kategori ini. Pertama, kemiripan karakteristik arti dari kata-kata tersebut. Walaupun kata-kata tersebut diberi sebuah awalan in- akan tetapi tidak terjadi negasi dalam kata-kata tersebut. Persamaan yang kedua adalah kombinasi dari imbuhan. Beberapa dari kata-kata yang ada menggunakan kombinasi dari awalan in- dan akhiran –able. Dari sembilan kata, terdapat empat kata yang menggunakan kombinasi imbuhan ini.

  Dari morphophonemik proses, penulis menemukan tiga proses perubahan yang terjadi dalam data. Ketiga perubahan tersebut adalah proses asimilasi, pergeseran tekanan, dan perubahan huruf vokal. Akan tetapi, proses yang paling sering muncul di dalam data adalah proses asimilasi vii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background Morphology is the study of words formation. It means that in

  morphology we learn how to arrange words in a correct formation. Words in English can be divided into two major categories. The two categories are content words and function words. Content words also known as the open class category.

  The examples of this category are nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. Function words also known as the close class category. The examples of this category are pronouns, prepositions, etc. The benefit of studying morphology is that it can help us to encounter words which we never heard before.

  According to Saphir (Dinnen, 1967:234) every word, grammatical element, location, sound, and accent is a slowly changing configuration. It means that language change gradually as time goes by. It is very important for us to consider phonetic, phonological, morphological, lexical, and syntactic patterning in order to study language.

  Basically, what we study in morphology is morpheme. According to Katamba, morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language, because it cannot be broken into smaller unit without destroying its meaning. We can see the example of a morpheme in the word butterfly.

  1 The meaning of butterfly is any of numerous slender-bodied diurnal insects with broad often colored wings (Webster, 1993: 155). We cannot divide the word butterfly into butter and fly, because it will change the meaning of the word butterfly. A word may consist of one or more than one morphemes.

  In English, there are two kinds of morphemes. The two morphemes are free morphemes and bound morphemes. A free morpheme is a morpheme which can occur by itself in a large language unit because it is meaningful. A free morpheme occurs as a word and as an element of a phrase; such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb and pronoun. While, a bound morpheme is a morpheme which cannot stand by itself, because bound morpheme has to be attached to a free morpheme in order to be meaningful. The example of bound morphemes can be seen in affixes, such as: prefix, suffix, and infix.

  In this research, the writer will focus the discussion on the prefix especially prefix in-. In English, there are two kinds of prefix in-. The first prefix is prefix in- that means in, toward, or near to. This prefix is used to indicate a place (just like what we have in the word inland). The second prefix is the one that means not. This second prefix also known as the negative prefix. This prefix can be attached to adjectives (as seen in impossible and imbalance) and nouns (as seen in inaction and inability). As the focus of the discussion, the writer will talk about the group of adjectives which are attached to prefix in- without negating the stem

  Problem Formulation B.

  As it stated above, the writer will discuss the adjectives which are attached to prefix in- without negating the stem. Here are some problems which will be discussed in the thesis.

  1. What adjectives are attached to the prefix in- without negating the stem and what morphophonemic processes occur after the attachment of the prefix in-?

  2. What are their common characteristics?

C. Objectives of the Study

  The focus of the discussion in this research is the adjectives that are attached to prefix in- but without negating to the stem. Based on the problems that mentioned, this research has two objectives.

  First, the writer will find the data for this research. The data for this research is the adjectives that are attached to prefix in- without negating the stem.

  Most people think that the attachment of prefix in- to an adjective always results a meaning that negates the meaning from the stem. In other words, it can be said that prefix in- means “not” whenever it is attached to an adjectives. However, in this research the writer will show that there are also some exceptions. After that, the writer will analyze the morphophonemic processes that occur in the data. For the next step, the writer will analyze the most common characteristics from the data.

D. Definition of Terms Katamba said morpheme as the smallest meaningful unit of a language.

  A morpheme can not be decomposed into smaller units that are either meaningful by themselves or mark a grammatical function like singular or plural number in a noun. (Katamba, 1993:20)

  Before we talk about prefix we have to talk about the affix, because prefix is one of the examples of affix. According to Katamba, an affix is a morpheme which only occurs when it is attached to some other morpheme or morphemes. According Szymanek (1989:62), affixation is probably the most frequent and widespread of producing morphologically complex words in human language. Therefore, a lot of English words are derived by using this process.

  Based on its definition, we can simply conclude that affix is one of the examples from bound morphemes. Based on their position, there are three kinds of affixes. The three affixes are:

  a. Prefixes: an affix which is attached before a root, as in improper, undone, nonstop, etc.

  b. Suffixes: an affix which is attached after a root, as in beautiful, greater, endless, etc.

  c. Infix: an affix which is inserted into the root itself. We only have one infix in English, namely -o-, as in speedometer, thermometer, etc.

  Based on the function, affixes can be classified into inflectional affixes and derivational affixes. Inflectional affixes are the group of affixes that function to modify a word form and indicate the grammatical subclass to which it belongs without changing the grammatical category. The derivational affixes are the affixes that function to form the new words and it change the grammatical category and meaning (O’Grady, 1996:161).

  According to Quirk, et al. (1972: 982-992), major prefixes can be classified according to the meaning. According to the meaning, there are ten kinds of prefixes. Since the focus of the discussion is the negative prefixes, the writer will just give definition from the negative prefixes only. Negative prefixes are prefixes which mean are “the opposite of”, “not”, “lacking in”, and “lack of”. They are un-, non-, in-, dis-, a -, an-. Each of them has their own characteristics which make them different from one another.

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW There are three items that will be discussed in this chapter. The writer will

  discuss the review of related studies, review of related theories, and the theoretical framework from this research.

A. Review of Related Studies

  Barly Bram conduct a study about the forms, function, and meanings of the Latin prefixes com-, in-, and sub-. The data from his study is the vocabulary items that are attached to prefix com-, in-, and sub-. He focused his discussion on the forms, functions, and the meaning of the prefixes.

  However, he does not give the absolute meaning from his data because the data in his research do not have a clear context. It means that they stand alone as a word. The prefix com- may mean together, with intensification. He defines the prefix in- itself as a negative prefix means not. While, the prefix sub- itself means under, below, less than, secondary repetition, or subordinate. Since this research is about prefix in- the writer will discuss the prefix in- only.

  According to Barly Bram, there are two kinds of prefix in- in English. Both of the prefixes are taken from Latin. One is used with the meaning of in,

  6 into, within, on, and toward. The other prefix in- is used with the meaning of no, not, without, and non.

  The discussion about the prefix in- signifying in or into is excluded. He has three reasons to do this action. The first reason is because the productivity.

  The fist prefix in- is less productive than the second prefix in-. The second reason is because of the similarity in terms of assimilated forms. The first prefix in- has the same assimilated form with the second prefix in-.The third reason is because of the attachment of the first prefix in-. The first prefix in- is combined with verbs, whereas verbs, mostly infinitives, have been discussed in the prefix com- and sub-

  According to him, the second prefix in-, meaning not, does not change the word class category. The second prefix in- is attached to English adjectives like

  

correct and perfect to form new words like incorrect and imperfect. The second

  prefix is functioned to negate the meaning of the stem where the prefix is attached. The attachment of this prefix results a new words that meaning is the opposite from the stem where the prefix is attached.

  The writer does not agree with the statement that the attachment of prefix

in- to adjective will negate the meaning of the stem where the prefix is attached.

  In this thesis, the writer will show that there are exceptions for certain words. Through this research, the writer will prove that the attachment of prefix in- to an adjective can also create a new word without negating the meaning of the stem where the prefix is attached.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Affixation

  An affix is a morpheme that only occurs when it is attached to some other morpheme or morphemes (Katamba 1993: 44). Based on the definition, we can conclude that affixes are bound morphemes. Affix can be inflectional and derivational. The explanation about inflectional and derivational affix will be discussed in the next part. There are three kinds of affixes that is prefixes, suffixes and infixes (Katamba, 1993: 44 - 45) a. Prefixes as in : remake, reread, unkind, untidy, indecent, etc.

  b. Suffixes as in : kindly, quickly, waiter, player, books, mats, etc.

  c. Infixes According to Bauer, we only have one infix in English that is /-n / (Katamba, 1993: 45). This infix undergoes of articulation assimilation, example: succumb, incumbent, and decumbent.

  According to Szymanex, affixation is probably the most frequent and widespread method of producing morphologically complex words in human language. Affixation occurs as the result of combination between bound morphemes with a stem. A bound morpheme is a dependent morpheme. It means that a bound morpheme cannot stand by it self because it has to be attached with a free morpheme.

  There are two kinds of affixations that is simple affixation and multiple affixations. The examples of the simple affixation can be simply seen in the word

  

inaccurate and unkind. The process of simple affixation only happen in one round

  but the process of the multiple affixations can take in number of rounds, with the output that is created by one round of affixation serving as the input for the next round. The example of the multiple affixations can be seen in the word

  

contradictoriness (Katamba, 1993: 52-53). In the word contradictoriness, the

  affixation process not happens in one round only. In the word contradictoriness, there are three rounds of affixation process.

  The first process is the attachment of the prefix contra- to the root that is suffix –dict. This affixation process creates a new word, contradict, that is categorized into verb. The second affixation process is the attachment of the suffix

• –ory to the word contradict. This affixation process creates a new word,

  contradictory, that is categorized into adjective. The second affixation process is

  the attachment of the suffix –ness to the word contradictory. This affixation process creates a new word, contradictoriness, that is categorized into noun.

  Quirk also added some information about prefixation and suffixation in English. The writer will focus on the prefixation only in order to limit the discussion.

  He said that a productive prefixes generally have a light stress on their first syllable while the main stress of the word is placed on the base (for example is the word, pre’fabricated) He classified nine kinds of prefixes in English. (Quirk 1973: 431). The nine prefixes are: a Negative prefixes.

  b. Reservative or privative prefixes.

  c. Pejorative prefixes.

  d. Prefixes of degree or size. e. Prefixes of attitude.

  f. Locative prefixes.

  g. Prefixes of time and order.

  h. Number prefixes. i. Conversion prefixes.

  The writer will focus the discussion on the negative prefixes only. Nevertheless due to their similiarity, the writer will also give some additional information about the reservative or privative prefixes. Reservative or privative prefix has similarity with the negative prefix because both of the prefix is used to negate the meaning of the stem. There are three kinds of reservative prefixes (Quirk 1973: 432). The three prefixes can always be attached to verbs. The three prefixes are un-, de-, and dis-.

  The first prefix is un-. This prefix is attached to verbs (as seen is untie,

  

unhorse). The meaning of this prefix is to reverse an action or to take something

  away. The second prefix is de-. This prefix can be attached to verbs (as seen in

  

defrost) and abstract nouns (as seen in deforestation). The meaning of this prefix

  is to reverse an action. The third prefix is dis-. The meaning of this prefix is similar with the meaning of prefix un-. This prefix can be attached to a verbs (as seen i n disconnect and discolured) and to a participles nouns (as seen in discontent) (Quirk 1973: 432).

2. Negative Prefixes

  According to Quirk, five negative prefixes can be attached to an adjective. (Quirk 1973: 431). The five prefixes are:

  un-, as in unfair, unexpected, unable, etc.

  a. non-, as in nondescript, nonplussed, nonchalant, etc.

  b.

  in-, as in informal, impossible, infinite, etc.

  c.

  dis-, as in disloyal, dislike, discourteous, etc.

  d.

  e.

  a-, as seen in amoral and asymmetry, etc.

  Those five prefixes have their own characteristics and can also be combined with the other word classes such as; verb and noun to form a unit of negative meaning.

  Each of the prefix function to give the negative meaning to a word. Since this research discuss about prefix in-, the writer will focus on the characteristics of prefix in-. Nevertheless, the writer will also discuss the other negative prefixes as the additional information.

  According to Katamba, prefix in- is the prefixes meaning “not” which can be attached to adjectives and verbs (Katamba 1993: 26). Moreover, he also added that prefix in– can transforms to several forms, such as: І l- if it is placed before the liquid stop consonant sounds.

  a.

  І m- if it is placed before the labial consonants sounds.

  b.

  І r- if it is placed before the liquid fricative consonant sounds.

  c.

   І η - if it is placed before the velar consonants sounds.

  d.

  І n- if it is placed elsewhere.

  e.

  Prefix in- is one of the examples of Latin prefix that is functioned as a negative prefix. It is similar with prefix un- that is also used to indicate a negation in Latin. Since the meaning of the prefix in- is negative, the attachment of prefix

  

in- can give negative meaning to the stem where the prefix is attached. This prefix

  is used to indicate a negative or the absence of something. For example, the word

  

accurate that means correct and true in every detail. When it is attached to prefix

in-, it changes into inaccurate means not completely correct. The attachment

  prefix in- can create a new words that simply become the negation for the stem where the prefix is attached.

  Prefix dis- can be said to have a confusing development. This prefix commonly used with verbs and abstract noun. Some linguists (Koziol and Marchand) believe that this prefix originate from the Old French prefix des- which in turn came from the Latin prefix dis- (for example disease: des- + aese).

  Jespersen believed that this prefix has a purely negative meaning and generally implying contradictory rather than contradictory opposition. This prefix also has a various meaning like apart, in different direction as in dispel (push in different

directions) and discursive (tending to turn in different directions). (B. Dzuganova.

  

Negative Affixes in Medical English <http: www.bmj.sk/2006/10708-13.pdf>

(Monday 17 September 2007)).

  The prefix non- means not, came from the Latin non. It can be attached to nouns and adjectives. This prefix cannot be attached to verbs. This prefix commonly used in Roman law terms that were adopted into Old French before it were adopted into English. In the sixteenth century, there are many compounds with non used in English (for example non-power, non-payment, non-claim, non- resident, etc).

  In the seventeenth century, the use of non was getting higher. The use of this prefix spread to words belonging to philosophy, religion, and political history (for example, non-graduated, non-proficiency, non-necessity). In the nineteenth century, the use of this prefix has became more frequent. Nowadays, this prefix can be attached to almost all of the adjectives in English (for example non-

  

interrupted, non-breakable, non-active, etc). However, this prefix is less frequent

  appear in the deverbal and personal nouns (for example non-admission, non-

  

conviction, non-believer, non-heritor, etc). (B. Dzuganova. Negative Affixes in

Medical English <http: www.bmj.sk/2006/10708-13.pdf> (Monday 17 September

  2007)).

  Prefix un- is the native English prefix used to indicate a negation but it can also be combined with non-native roots bas well. This prefix is the most productive negative prefix although it is not frequently used in word that is related with the medical terms. This prefix originates from Old English. There are two kinds of negative prefix un- in Old English. The first prefix is the negative prefix means “not” as we seen in the word unhappy. The first prefix has the same Indo- European root with Old Greek a- / an-, Latin prefix in-, and German prefix un-. It is normally attached to adjectives (for example unclean, uneven, unwise, etc).

  During Old English era, this prefix was very productive and produced many adjectives (about 1250 words) unfortunately most of them disappeared in the end

  th of the 13 century and only few of them survived in the present English. (B. Dzuganova. Negative Affixes in Medical English <http: www.bmj.sk/2006/10708- 13.pdf> (Monday 17 September 2007)).

  The second prefix is the reversative un- prefix. Although they have the same origin, the second prefix un- is not related with the first one. This prefix is much closer to the Old Greek anti- and Latin prefix ante- meaning “the opposite”. This prefix originates from Old English and, ond- that tended to lose its d before a consonant. It is related etymologically with to a German prefix ent-. Normally the second prefix is attached to verbs and functioned to indicate a reversal process. Many verbs produced with this prefix in Old English era but only few of them survive in the present English vocabulary (for example unbind, undo, untie, etc).

  ( B . D z u g a n o v a . Negative Affixes in Medical E n g l i s h <http: www.bmj.sk/2006/10708-13.pdf> (Monday 17 September 2007)).

3. Derivational Affixes

  Based on the function, affixes can be classified into inflectional and derivational affixes. Inflectional affixes are the group of affixes that function to modify a word form and indicate the grammatical subclass to which it belongs without changing the grammatical category.

  The derivational affixes are the affixes that function to form the new words. We can see the example from the comparison between the words happy and unhappy. The attachment of prefix un- change the meaning of the word happy from having feeling of pleasure into not having the feeling of pleasure. The attachment of derivational affixes can also change the grammatical category

  (O’Grady, 1996:61). See the table below for further explanation about the differences between the two.

  Derivational Inflectional 1. It can produce new words. It deals with grammar only.

  2. It can change the category or meaning It cannot change the category or of the word. meaning of the word.

  3. It can be placed in the initial as a It can only be placed in the final prefix and final position as a suffix. position as a suffix.

  4. It is more creative. It is less creative 5. It is less productive. It is more productive.

4. Word Formation.

  A form where a rule of word formation is applied is known as a base (Quirk 1973: 430). According to Quirk, there are three types of word formation process in English: a. Affixation is the process of adding either prefix or suffix to the base, with or without changing the word class (for example author› c o -author and drive›

  driver).

  b. Conversion is assigning the base to a different word class without changing its form (for example the zero affixation as seen in drive (v) and

  drive (n)).

  c. Compounding is adding one base to another (for example tea + pot = teapot).

  We can also have more than one process in a word. The example can be seen in the word colour-blindness. In the word colour-blindness, we have two processes. The first process is compounding process from the word colour and

  

blind that results the word colour-blind. The second process is the affixation

  process from the word colour-blind and the suffix –ness that results the word

  

colour-blindness. Beside the three major processes mentioned above, there are

  also others word formation processes such as reduplication, clipping, blending, and acronym as means to form new words by using the old words as its base.

  (Quirk 1973: 431).

5. Tree Diagram

  According to Andrew Carstairs, tree diagram is a way to represent information about affixation since there are many derived words contain more than one affix. Node is a part of a tree diagram from which branches sprout. Here is the explanation about the word unhelpfulness for further information. The word

  

unhelpfulness means not helping in a situation or makes the situation worse. This

  word belongs to noun category. In order to find the stem, we separate the last attached affix that is suffix –ness. This action changes the word unhelpfulness into

  

unhelpful that belongs to adjective category. After that, we take prefix un-. This

  action changes the word unhelpful into helpful that belongs to adjective. Finally, we take suffix -full from the word helpful and change the word helpful into help that belong to noun category. Here is the picture of the tree diagram.

  N A A N un- help -ful -ness The nodes in the tree diagram above are all labeled. A is used to label adjectives. N is used to label nouns. V is used to label verbs. Adv is used to label adverbial (Carstairs, 2002: 73-74).

  The information about a tree diagram can also be conveyed by using labelled bracketing. In labeled bracketing, one pair of bracket corresponds to each node in the tree (Carstairs, 2002: 74). See the example from the word helplessness below: _{V N A N} [[[help ] –less] –ness] .

  The word help can be classified into verbs and nouns category. In order to be attached with suffix –less, the word help is classified into nouns category because suffix –less can be attached to nouns and cannot be attached to verbs. After the attachment from the word help and suffix –less, the word help changes into helpless which is categorized into adjectives. After that, the second affixation process between the word helpless and suffix -ness happens. The word helpless is attached to suffix –ness and changes into helplessness that is categorized into nouns.

6. Allomorphs

  According to Francis Katamba, if there are different morphemes that represent the same morphemes they are called allomorphs (Katamba 1993:26).

  For example /ıd/, /d/, and /t/ are grouped together as allomorphs of the past tense in English. The allomorphs above are the examples taken from the English past tense suffix. The relation between morphemes, allomorphs, and morphs can be seen in the picture below (Katamba 1993: 26). morpheme past tense allomorphs allomorphs allomorphs morph morph morph /ıd/ /d/ /t/ According to Katamba, prefix in- has some allomorphs, in this case, he mentions three examples of allomorphs for prefix in-. The three allomorphs are im- [ ım -],

  

in- [ ın -], and in- [ ıη-] . The nasal consonants in the allomorphs of prefix in- are

  pronounced in three different ways. The pronunciations itself depend on the following sounds. Here are the rules for the pronunciation of allomorphs in the prefix in- (Katamba 1993: 26).

  Prefix in- will be pronounced [ım-] if it is placed before the bilabial a. consonants. Prefix in- will be pronounced [ıη-] if it is placed before the velar b. consonants. Prefix in- will be pronounced [ın -] if it is elsewhere.

  c.

  The three allomorphs above are in the complementary distribution. It means that selecting one precludes selecting the others. It is very impossible for the three of them to occur in the identical environments. If a morpheme has several allomorphs the choice of allomorphs used in the given context is normally phonologically conditioned. It means that the allomorphs selected to represent the morpheme in a certain context is the one that phonological properties are similar to those of sounds found in the closest allomorphs of some other morphemes. The phonological resemblance between the nasal found in the prefix and the first consonant representing the previous morpheme is done for the assimilation process.

  Based on the discussion about allomorph, Katamba concludes that spelling is a very poor guide for to pronunciation in English and many other languages (Katamba 1993: 26). There are some criteria to determine whether a morpheme is the allomorph of the other morpheme. Here are some steps to decide whether a morpheme is an allomorph or not.

  a. Decide whether the morpheme have the same meaning or not.

  b. Decide whether the morpheme is phonologically similar.

  c. Decide whether the morpheme is complementary distribution or not.

  7. Relation between Meaning and Form

  Many people always think that words can be divided into parts. This can happen because of the traditional concept that we have in morphology that always concern on the morphemes’ identification. However, we have to realize that not all words can be divided into smaller parts. According to Joan L Bybee, sometimes there are zero morphs (semantics unit that seem to have no expression in a word) and empty morphs (parts of the word that do not associate with any semantics units) or some cases where it is impossible for us to find boundaries between morphemes in the word (Bybee, 1985: 3).

  In his Morphology: A Study of Relation between Meaning and Form, Bybee (1985) concerns with two major problems. The first problem is about morphological fusion that focused on the combination between morphology and phonology. The second problem is about allomorphy that deals with the disturbance in the one to one association of sound and meaning. In this research, the writer will focus on the first problem that is morphological fusion.

  Bybee developed and tested a hypothesis that the degree of morpho- phonological fusion is related with the degree of semantic relevance of the affix to the stem. This hypothesis can be used to arrange inflectional categories on a scale where various predications can be made.

  8. Word Meaning

  Many linguists have tried to fine the perfect way to define the meaning of a word. The easiest way to know the meaning of a word is by looking at the meaning of the word in the dictionary. However, there are some elements that need to be considered in defining the meaning of a word. Here are the four elements:Connotation is the set of associations and elements of meaning that can be evoked by a word, but not the entire meaning of the word.

  Denotation is the set of entities to which the word refers (also known as a. referent.). Extension is the entity which a word or expression picks out in the world.

  b.

  Intension is the concepts a word evokes.

  c. (Dozier, Evan Marie. Semantics on Words <http://www.angelfire.com/tn/semantics/words.html> (30 August 2007))

  According to John Lyons in Linguistics Semantics (1995), the referential theory of meaning is perfectly satisfactory to define the meaning of a word by identifying what they stand for (Lyons 1995:75). However, according to Lyons we have to distinguish denotation from reference so that we are able to identify or define what a word stands for. Denotation is connected with reference.

  Many authors think that denotation and reference are the same. However, Lyons said that they are two different things.

  The difference between denotation and reference is that the denotation is invariant and utterance independent. Denotation is the relation between expression and physical entities in the external world. Denotation is part of the meaning that belongs to the expression in a language system. Reference is a variable and of animal whereas the word “my dog” or “the dog” will refer to different member of the class on different occasions of utterance.

  Another important thing that needs to be considered is sense. Sense and denotation is related to one another. The larger the denotation, the smaller the sense is and vice versa. For example, the denotation of “animal” is larger than “dog”, but the sense of “animal” is less specific than “dog”.

  Lyons also added that denotation has two complementary aspects. They are extension and intension. Extension is the class of entities that it defines and the intention is the defining property of the class. Usually, the attachment of the negative prefix in- always denote the negative meaning. However, in this research, the writer will prove that there are also some cases where the attachment of the negative prefix in- does not give negative meaning to the resulting word.

9. Componential Analysis

  We can describe and analyze a word from the semantics components. In other words, we can say that we are able to analyze a word based on their semantics features. Componential analysis is known as semantic feature analysis. In componential analysis, we described the meaning of a word through their semantics features, for example:

  man = [+ male], [+ mature] girl [– male] [– mature] woman = [– male], [+ mature] child [+/– male] [– mature]. boy = [+ male], [– mature]

  From the example above, we know that a man is different from a boy. Although both male and boy have the same semantics feature, they are different because a man is a mature male while a boy is not a mature male.

  According to Lyons, we can formalize or making precise the sense of relations that hold between lexemes by using componential analysis (Lyons 1995: 107). As the example, he took the semantic features from the words “boy”,

  

“girl”, “man”, and “woman” that denote to human being. He said that we could

  see their differences by looking at their sense component. “Man” and “woman” have the sense component adult while “boy” and “girl” have the sense lack of adult. The sense from four examples can be seen as:

  a. “man” = “human” x “male” x “adult”

  b. “woman” = “human” x “female” x “adult”

  c. “boy” = “human” x “male” x “non-adult”

  d. “girl” = “human” x “female” x “non-adult” Instead of saying that a man is the product from “human”, “male”, and

HUMAN, MALE,

  “adult”, he preferred to say that a man is the product from and

  ADULT

  because small capital refers the allegedly universal sense components where the senses of expression of in a particular languages are constructed.. Then, he developed the formalization a little further by using the negation operator (~) in order to distinguish a positive and a negative value of the two-valued variable +/-

  ADULT

  . In order to make clear the difference between the absence of a component and its negation, he changed the symbol of multiplication sign with