A MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ENGLISH PREFIXES DIS- AND DE-

A MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ENGLISH PREFIXES

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

A MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ENGLISH PREFIXES

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

“So make the best of this test

and don’t ask why

It’s not a question

but a lesson learned in time

It’s something unpredictable

but in the end it’s right

I hope you’ve had the time of your life”

(Time of Your Life by Green Day)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my endless gratitude to Jesus Christ, Mother Mary and St. Francesca for their blessing so that I am able to finish my thesis.

Without Them, I am nothing.

I am indebted gratitude to Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd, M.A. for the advice, suggestion, correction, patience and jokes. I am proud to have you as my advisor. ☺ Without you, I will not be able to finish my thesis. I also thank Adventina Putranti S.S, M. Hum as my co-advisor, for the correction and suggestion.

I would like to give my deepest thank to my parents; ‘Momze’ and ‘Popze’ for the support, both spiritual and financial. Thank you for your endless love, prayer and attention. I do not know how to reciprocate everything you have done and given to me. I would like to thank my big brothers Aris, Andy and Didit; my lovely nephews Nyo-Nyo and Dede’ Tio; my sister-in-law Mbak Tanti; and my sister-in- law-to-be Mbak Ika for the love, support and attention.

I also would like to express my greatest thank to my very special ‘friend’ Sheila, Astrid, Siska, Intan, Lutfi, Nofi, Lisis, Indri, Rani, Feme, Ison, Rizki, Six, Jati, Sony, Patrick, and Edward; Toni ‘item’ ; Rieza ‘Komunikasi UGM ’04’; Enji ‘Informatika Atma ‘04’, Melly ‘Obat Alami UGM ’04’, and Dimas ‘PBI UNY’ 03’ for editing the table of contents. The last but not least, I would like to thank all the people who always have supported me especially during my time in college that cannot be mentioned one by one. Thank you so much!!!! I love you all!!!

Ameliana Widyastuti

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................................ i

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

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

MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................................. iv

DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................................. v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... vi

LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ..................................viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. ix

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... xi

ABSTRAK .....................................................................................................................xiii

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

A. Background of the Study .............................................................................. 1 B. Problem Formulation .................................................................................... 3 C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................................. 3 D. Definition of Terms ....................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ............................................................... 5

A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................................ 5 B. Review of Related Theories .......................................................................... 6 1. Affixation ................................................................................................ 6 2. Negative Prefixes .................................................................................... 8 3. Reversative Prefixes ................................................................................ 9 4. Privative Prefixes .................................................................................... 11 5. Review on Morphological Study ............................................................ 12 6. Review on Prefix dis- .............................................................................. 14 7. Review on Prefix de- .............................................................................. 16 C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................. 18

with the Roots/Stems ADJECTIVE ............................................... 87

Appendix 7. List of the Derived Words with the prefix dis-

with the Roots/Stems VERB ..........................................................118

Appendix 6. List of the Derived Words with the prefix de-

with the Roots/Stems NOUN ......................................................... 94

Appendix 5. List of the Derived Words with the prefix de-

with the Roots/Stems ADVERB .................................................... 92

Appendix 4. List of the Derived Words with the prefix dis-

Appendix 3. List of the Derived Words with the prefix dis-

The Meaning of the Prefix dis- ......................................................... 33 2. The Derived Words with the Prefix de- and Its Meaning ....................... 37

with the Roots/Stems VERB ......................................................... 74

Appendix 2. List of the Derived Words with the prefix dis-

with the Roots/Stems NOUN ......................................................... 55

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 50

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 53

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 55

Appendix 1. List of the Derived Words with the prefix dis-

The Similarities between the Prefixes dis- and de- ........................... 46 2. The Differences between the Prefixes dis- and de- .......................... 48

b. The Meaning of the Prefix de- ......................................................... 42 C. The Similarities and Differences between the Prefixes dis- and de- ........... 46 1.

a. The Derived Words with the Prefix de- ........................................... 37

with the Roots/Stems ADJECTIVE ...............................................134

ABSTRACT

AMELIANA WIDYASTUTI (2008). A Morphological Study of the English

Prefixes Dis- and De-. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of

Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

Affix is an important part of English Language since the process of affixation is frequently used in this language. Based on the place of occurrence, an affix is categorized into prefix, suffix, and infix. The process of adding an affix to a stem is called affixation process. Affixation is frequently used in English Language. Consequently, many English words are formed through affixation. The derived words can be nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs. In English Language, there are often several affixes that have the same function that can make non-native users of English confused. However, this study only focuses on the prefixes dis- and de- that have several same meanings.

In analyzing the prefixes dis- and de-, this study attempts to answer three problems: what stems that the prefixes dis- and de- take; what words that those two prefixes produce and what meaning that they introduce; and what similarities and differences between those two prefixes.

This study is an empirical research since it relies on the primary data that are used. This is a morphological study because the analysis is based on the attachment of the prefixes to construct a word. The data that are used are the analyzable derived words with the two prefixes which are taken from Webster’s Third New International

Dictionary of English Language Unabridged (1981). Since there are 1410 analyzable

derived words with the prefixes dis- and de-, a random sampling strategy is applied to this study. The primary data that are used are the random sample of every second word.

Based on the analysis, the prefix dis- takes nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs as its stems. Meanwhile, the prefixes de- only takes nouns, verbs, and adjectives as its stems. When attached to nouns, the prefix dis- produces nouns and verbs. Meanwhile, when attached to verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, it also produces The second is on the frequency of the coinage of the word with the two prefixes. The third is on the derived words that they produce. The last is on the meaning they introduce; they also have some meanings which differ from each other.

ABSTRAK

AMELIANA WIDYASTUTI (2008). A Morphological Study of the English

Prefixes Dis- and De-. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra,

Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Afiks merupakan bagian penting dalam Bahasa Inggris karena proses afiksasi sering digunakan dalam bahasa tersebut. Berdasarkan tempatnya, afiks dikategorikan dalam awalan, akhiran, dan sisipan. Proses penambahan afiks pada kata dasar disebut proses afiksasi. Proses afiksasi sering digunakan dalam Bahasa Inggris. Maka dari itu, banyak kata-kata Bahasa Inggris yang terbentuk melalui afiksasi. Kata-kata turunan tersebut dapat berupa nomina, verba, adjektiva, atau adverbial. Dalam Bahasa Inggris, ada beberapa afiks yang mempunyai fungsi yang sama yang dapat membingungkan orang yang bukan merupakan pengguna asli Bahasa Inggris. Meskipun demikian, studi ini hanya fokus pada awalan dis- dan de- yang mempunyai beberapa makna yang sama. Dalam menganalisis awalan dis- dan de-, studi ini mencoba menjawab tiga pretanyaan: kata-kata dasar apa yang mendapat imbuhan awalan dis- dan de-; kata- kata turunan apa yang dihasilkan awalan dis- dan de- dan makna apa yang kedua awalan tersebut perkenalkan; dan apa saja persamaan dan perbedaan antara kedua awalan tersebut.

Studi ini adalah sebuah penelitian empiris karena mengandalkan pada data utama yang digunakan. Studi ini merupakan studi tentang morfologi karena analisisnya berdasarkan pada pembentukan kata dengan awalan dis- dan de-. Data yang digunakan adalah kata-kata turunan dari awalan dis- dan de- yang dapat dianalisa yang diambil dari kamus Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of

English Language Unabridged (1981). Karena terdapat 1410 kata-kata turunan dari

awalan dis- dan de- yang dapat dianalisis, studi ini menggunakan strategi penarikan contoh secara acak. Data utama yang digunakan adalah contoh acak setiap dua kata.

Berdasarkan pada analisis, awalan dis- dapat diimbuhkan pada kata dasar nomina, verba, adjektiva, dan adverbia. Sedangkan awalan de- hanya dapat awalan tersebut mengubah kategori kata turunannya. Persamaan kedua adalah kata- kata turunan tertentu dengan awalan-awalan tersebut bisa digabungkan dengan akhiran-akhiran tertentu untuk menghasilkan kata-kata baru. Persamaan ketiga adalah kedua awalan tesebut juga mengubah makna kata turunannya. Persamman keempat adalah kedua awalan tersebut memiliki beberapa makna yang sama. Ada empat perbedaan antara awalan dis- dan de-. Perbedaan pertama adalah pada kata dasar yang dapat diimbuhkan dengan awalan dis- dan de-. Perbedaan yang kedua adalah pada frekwensi penciptaan kata dengan awalan-awalan tersebut. Perbedaan yang ketiga adalah pada kata turunan yang kedua awalan tersebut hasilkan dan perbedaan terakhir adalah pada makna yang kedua awalan tersebut perkenalkan; kedua awalan tersebut juga mempuyai makna yang berbeda satu sama lain.

used as a mean of communication. For a particular group of people, language has other functions. For writers or authors, for example, language can be used as a means to express their ideas to become writings, stories, or novels. There are also some people who use language as their research field. Those people are called linguists.

The study of language itself is called linguistics. In his book Morphology: Second

Edition , Matthews (1991:2-3) wrote that the field of linguistic theory includes at least

four major subfields. The first subfield is phonology, which is “concerned with the functioning of sound-units within the system of individual languages”; and phonetics, which is “concerned with the nature and typology of speech sounds in themselves” (phonology and phonetics are one subfield which is “handled on two theoretical levels”). The second is syntax, “which traditionally covers both the constructions of

2 is frequently used in English is affixation. A word that has undergone the process of affixation consists of more than one morpheme, and it is called a complex (or

polymorphemic ) word. The base to which other morphemes are added is called the

; it can be considered the basic morpheme in the word. root

Based on the place of the occurrence, an affix is categorized into four groups:

prefix, suffix and infix. A prefix is an affix that is placed before the stem; a suffix is an

affix placed after the stem; an infix is an affix placed between the stems or inside the stem (Fromkin, Blair, Collins, 2000:68-70).

Affix is an important part of the English language, since the process of affixation is frequently used in this language and consequently so many English words are formed through affixation. English language has many affixes with so many different function and usage. There are affixes which change the part of speech of the root words (for example the suffixes -al and -less), the meaning of the root words (for example the prefixes in- and un-), and so on.

In English, there are often several affixes which have the same function. For instance prefixes dis- and de- which have the same meaning ‘reversal of an action’.

3 help English learners in studying the attachment and the meaning of English prefixes

dis- and de-.

B. Problem Formulation

In analyzing the English prefixes dis- and de-, this study attempts to answer the following questions:

1. What stems do the prefixes dis- and de- take?

2. What words do those two prefixes produce and what meaning do those two prefixes introduce?

3. What are the similarities and differences between those two prefixes?

C. Objectives of the Study

Related to the problem formulation above, this study has three objectives. The first objective is to identify what stems that the prefixes dis- and de- take; whether they are noun, adjective, verb, or adverb.

The second objective is to identify what stems that the English negative

4 D. Definition of Terms Several terms are used in analyzing the prefixes dis- and de-. In order to avoid the misunderstanding of the meaning of the terms, this section presents the definition of each term.

A morpheme is “the smallest unit of language that carries information about meaning or function” (O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, Rees-Miller, 2005:113). It cannot be broken into smaller units without destroying its meaning (Gleason, 1961:53). It can be grouped into free and bound morpheme. Free morpheme is a morpheme that can be a word by itself (for example ‘go’, ‘danger’, ‘sad’), while bound morpheme cannot stand by itself and has to be attached to another element (O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, Rees-Miller, 2005:113). Affixes are the examples of bound morphemes (Szymanek, 1989:14)

Affixation is the addition of an affix (prefix, infix, or suffix) to a base to form a new word. Stem is any form to which an affix is added (Dwijatmoko, 2003:10&13). thesis titled ‘A Morphological Study of English Prefixes Mega-, Macro-, Poly-,

Multi- ‘. In her thesis, she formulated three problems: what classes of words the

prefixes mega-, macro-, poly-, multi- take, what classes of words the prefixes mega-, produce, and what meanings the prefixes mega-, macro-, poly-,

macro-, poly-, multi-

multi- carry. In analyzing those problems, she used theory of affixation, theory of

word classes, and theory of meaning. From her analysis, she came to three conclusions. First, the prefixes mega-, macro-, poly-, multi- take nouns and adjectives as their stems. Most of the stems taken by those prefixes are rooted from Greek and Latin. Second, the word classes of the derived words remain the same as the word classes of the stems. Third, the general meaning of the prefixes mega- and macro- is ‘large’ while the meaning of the prefixes poly- and multi- is ‘many’. Yet, besides the

6 between those two prefixes. Theory of affixation and theories of negative, reversative and privative prefix are used in analyzing those three problems.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Affixation A morpheme is “the smallest unit of language that carries information about meaning or function” (O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, Rees-Miller, 2005: 113). It cannot be broken into smaller units without destroying its meaning (Gleason, 1961: 53). For instance, the words plate cannot be broken into pla and te, which do not have any meaning; or glass cannot be broken into gl and ass. Although ass has its own meaning, the meaning has no relation with the meaning of glass.

English morphemes can be grouped into free and bound morpheme. Free morpheme is a morpheme that can be a word by itself. In other words, free morpheme is a morpheme that can stand by itself (for example: ‘pencil’, ‘book’, ‘pillow’, ‘happy’). While, bound morpheme is a morpheme that cannot stand by itself. It must be attached to another element (O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, Rees-Miller, 2005:

7 lexical category, such as noun (N), verb (V), adjective (A), or preposition (P) (O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, Rees-Miller, 2005: 115).

Based on the place of the occurrence, an affix is categorized into four groups: and infix. A prefix is an affix that is placed before the stem; a suffix is an

prefix, suffix

affix placed after the stem; an infix is an affix placed between the stems or inside the stem (Fromkin, Blair, Collins, 2000: 68-70).

Based on the function, affix can be divided into derivational affix and

inflectional affix . A derivational affix is an affix which functions to change the

meaning of the base to which the affix is attached, for example un- + happy → unhappy (‘not happy’). It also can function to change the part of speech of the base to which the affix is attached, for example fortunate (Adjective) + -ly

→ fortunately (Adverb). An inflectional affix is an affix which functions to change the form of the same word, for example girl (singular) + -s

→ girls (plural), wait (present tense) + -ed → waited (past tense), eat (present) + -en → eaten (past participle) (Katamba, 1993: 47-50).

The process of adding an affix to an already existing word to make a new

8 encode (V), pure (A) + -ify → purify (V). Adjectivization is a process of the formation of an adjective from a noun or a verb, for example attract (V) + -ive → attractive (A), health (N) + -y

→ healthy (A). Adverbialization is a process of the formation of an adverb from an adjective by adding the suffix –ly, for example happy (A) + -ly → happily (Ad), clever (A) + -ly → cleverly (Ad) (Dwijatmoko, 2003: 13).

2. Negative Prefixes Since prefixes are (bound) morphemes, they, automatically, have meaning(s).

Prefixes un-, in-, non-, and dis-, for example, have meaning ‘not’, ‘the opposite’ (Quirk et al, 1985: 1540). They are called negative prefixes because when they are attached to adjectives (A), they form negative words (words that have the opposite meaning from their root words or stems). In his book Introduction to Morphological

Analysis , Szymanek (1989: 267) writes “affixal negation in English is primarily a

phenomenon from the domain of de-adjectival derivation”. For instances, un- + happy (A) (‘pleased’) = unhappy (A) (‘not pleased’), in- + effective (A) (‘capable of bringing about an effect; productive of result’) = ineffective (A) (‘not capable of

9 (1.a) unhappy (1.b) ineffective

A A un- A in- A happy effective

(1.c) non-negotiable (1.d) disloyal A A non- A dis- A

V -able loyal negotiate Those four prefixes (un-, in-, non-, dis-) are the English prefixes that are most commonly used in deriving negative adjective even though there are another negative prefixes such as a- : achromatic, no- : no-win solution, etc (Szymanek, 1989: 267&273). However, Szymanek (1989: 272) adds that “the prefix dis- is a weakly productive negativizing element”. It is only attached to a small number of Latinate

dis- is attached to verbs derived from Latinate and Romance bases, mostly beginning

with a vowel. The prefix de- is often attached to “de-adjectival, causative verbs in –

ize ”. It is also occasionally attached to Latinate verbs in –ate and –ify. He also adds

that “base-forms of other types, i.e. ones which do not involve any of the typical causative suffixes (-ize, -ate, -ify) are very rare” (1989: 295).

The examples of the reversative verbs are: un- + lock (V) (‘to fasten the lock of something’) = unlock (V) (‘to unfasten the lock of something’), dis- + continue (V) (‘to be steadfast or constant in a course or activity’) = discontinue (V) (‘to break the continuity of something’), de- + activate (V) (‘to make something active’) = deactivate (V) (‘to make something not active’). The meanings in the brackets are based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language

Unabridged (1981).

The structures of the instances can be shown using tree diagrams as follows: (2.a) unlock (2.b) discontinue

V V un V dis- V

4. Privative Prefixes Prefixes un-, dis-, and de- can also be classified into privative prefixes. They also have meaning ‘deprive of’, ‘free from’, ‘lack of’ (Quirk et al, 1985: 1541).

Szymanek (1989: 278) states that the privative verbs can be paraphrased as ‘cause to no longer have’. Privatives are “based on the underlying concept ‘remove’” (1989: 298). Quirk et al. (1985: 1540&1541) adds that prefix un- is attached “limitedly to nouns, turning them into verbs”, for example un- + mask (N) (’a cover or partial cover for the face usually made of cloth with openings for the eyes’) = unmask (V) (‘to remove a mask from), prefix dis- is attached to “open class items including verbs”, for example dis- + member (N) (‘someone or something that belongs to a particular group’) = dismember (V) (‘to cut or tear of or disjoin the limbs, members or parts of’), dis- + faith (N) (‘belief and trust in and loyalty to God’) = disfaith (N) (‘lack of faith’), and prefix de- is attached “fairly freely to verbs and deverbal nouns” and nouns, for example de- + louse (N) (‘any of various small wingless usually flattened insect that are parasitic or warm-blooded animals) = delouse (V) (‘to remove lice from’), de- + forest (N) ( = deforest (V) (‘remove tree from’)) + -ation =

12 (3.c) delouse (3.d) deforestation

V N de- N V -ation louse de- N forest Like prefix dis- as a negative prefix, privative verbs is also weakly productive.

Szymanek (1989: 299) writes that “the prefix de- derives privative verbs from a number of short, typically monosyllabic nouns”.

5. Review on Morphological Study Morphology is defined as “the study of the internal structure of words”

(Katamba, 1993: 5). Meanwhile, Matthews (1991: 3) defines morphology as the branch of linguistics which is “concerned with the ‘forms of words’ in different uses and constructions”. According to Matthews, there are four major subfields of linguistic theory: phonetics and phonology (one subfield which is “handled on two

13 Based on the definitions above, a morphological study can be defined as a study related to the internal structure, forms, and constructions of words. Bybee (1985: 3) describes morphological study as a study concerned with the identification of morphemes. He adds “the traditional concern of morphological study has been the identification of morphemes: dividing words into parts and assigning meaning to the parts” (Bybee, 1985: 3). A morpheme is “the smallest units of language that combine both a form (the way they sound) and a meaning (what they mean)” (Fasold&Connor- Linton, 2006: 61). When there are words that cannot be easily divided into discrete parts (such as zero morphs), or morphemes that have different shapes when they occur in different environments, morphological studies “seek to offer means of describing these deviations from the one-to-one correspondence between sound and meaning” (Bybee, 1985: 3).

According to Matthews (1991: 12-18), the scope of morphological study covers three aspects of word structure. The first is inflection, the variation in the form of words for grammatical functions. For example, the use of the morpheme –s for plural inflection in birds or trees, the morpheme –ed for past tense and past participle

14 Since the prefixes dis- and de-, which will be discussed in this study, are classified as derivational morphemes, this morphological study is focused on the third aspect of word structure, namely derivation.

6. Review on Prefix dis- According to Webster’s Third New International Divtionary of English

Language Unabridged (1981: 642), there are two entries of prefix dis. The first dis-

has four meanings. The first is “to do the opposite of: to reverse (a specified action)” as seen in the words disjoin and disqualify; “to deprive of (a specified character, quality, or rank)” as seen in the words disable and disprince; “to exclude or expel from” as seen in the words disbar and discastle. The second meaning is “opposite of: contrary of: absence of” as seen in the words disunion and disaffection. The third meaning is “not”, as seen in the words dishonest and disloyal. The fourth meaning is “completely”, as seen in the word disannul. This dis- is derived from Old French des- , dis- and from Latin dis- which means apart, to pieces (1981: 642).

The second entry of dis- means “twice” or “double” as seen in the word

15 and privative. When forming negative adjectives, the prefix dis- is found in Latinate adjectives and serves as “a weakly productive negativizing element” (1989: 272). When forming reservative verbs, dis- is combined with verbs derived from Latinate and Romance bases, mostly beginning with a vowel, to express “the undoing of a previous state” (1989: 292-294). There are also a small number of verbs containing the prefix dis-, combined with nouns from Romance origin, to form privative verbs, meaning “to deprive of (something)” or “to free from (something)” (1989: 298). However, Quirk et al adds that there are derived words with the prefix dis- (and also with the prefix de-) that cannot be analyzed because they already had the prefixes when they adopted into English.

Both de- and dis- occur also in words that already had the prefixes when adopted into English; such cases they frequently have no meaning analyzable by ordinary users of English. E.g: depend, discern (Quirk et al, 1985: 1541)

Dis- is a prefix of Latinate origin. It entered the English vocabulary during the

Middle English period in 1150-1500. The use of Germanic and Old English affixes to form new words had actually been a common practice since the Old English period (Baugh and Cable, 2002: 66). During the centuries following the Norman Conquest

16 language through two ways: directly from Latin and through French, the dominant language of the upper class during Norman settlement, as “the Latinized form of Old French des-, which was the popular phonetic development of Latin dis-” (Marchand, 1969: 158).

Onions (1966: 271) discusses that the prefix dis- appears “as a living prefix combined with words of no matter what origin”. In other words, the prefix dis- remains productive until now.

7. Review on Prefix de- According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of English

Language Unabridged (1981: 579), the prefix de- has seven meanings. The first is “to

do the opposite of: to reverse (a specified action)” as seen in the words decentralize and decode; “reverse of” as seen in the word decalescence. The second meaning is “to remove (a specified thing, or specified things, from)” as seen in the words dehorn and delouse; “to remove from (a specified thing) as seen in the word dethrone. The third meaning is “to reduce: to make lower” as seen in the word derate. The fourth

17 The prefix de- is classified into reversative and privative prefixes. It can be attached to verbs and nouns (Quirk et al, 1985: 1541). Szymanek also classifies the usage of the prefix de- into reservative and privative. The reversative prefix de- is often attached to “de-adjectival, causative verbs in –ize”, for example the causative verb Christianize becomes reversative dechristianize. It is also occasionally attached to Latinate verbs in –ate and –ify, for example deactivate and declassify. He also adds that “base-forms of other types, i.e. ones which do not involve any of the typical causative suffixes (-ize, -ate, -ify) are very rare” (Szymanek, 1989: 295).

According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of English

Language Unabridged , the prefix de- originated from Old French dé-, des-, partly

from Latin de-, which means “down” or “away” (1981: 579). According to Marchand in The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation, the prefix de- originated as a derivative morpheme in English “by the free adoption of French verbs”, meaning that the adoption of the prefix de- was influenced by loan words from French (1969: 153). The prefix de- has been existing since Middle English, for example the words deplume (first known in the year 1420), which was adapted from

18 words; instead, the English language adopted the pattern using the prefix de-. The pattern was also used to coin new words in English, such as demoralize, demobilize, denationalize , depolarize. Until now, the prefix de- is still productive.

C. Theoretical Framework

Since the main discussion of this study is the prefixes dis- and de-, the theory of affixation is really needed to identify the word formation of the derived words from those two prefixes. This theory of affixation becomes a base theory in analyzing the stems that the prefixes dis- and de- take. The theories on negative, reversative, and privative prefixes are also necessary in answering the first problem. Those theories are applied since the prefix dis- is classified into negative, reversative, and privative prefixes; and prefix de- is classified into reversative and privative prefixes. Therefore the theories are needed to identify the use of the prefixes dis- and de-; whether they are attached to nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs.

The theory of affixation is also necessary for answering the second problem. By using that theory, the derived words from the prefixes dis- and de- can be

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The object of this study is the English prefixes dis- and de-. Based on the Problem Formulation in Chapter I, this study focuses on the stems that the prefixes

dis- and de- take, the derived words with those two prefixes and the meaning they

introduce, and the similarities and differences between those two prefixes.

The data needed for this study covers all the derived words with the prefixes

dis- and de-. Those data are taken from Webster’s Third New International Dictionary

of English Language Unabridged (1981). The dictionary is chosen because it is more

complete than any other dictionaries such as Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary of

Current English or Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners.

Moreover, this dictionary is equipped with the etymology of each word. Therefore, the derived words from prefixes dis- and de-are easy to find.

According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of English

20 B.

Method of the Study

This study is an empirical research since it relies on the primary data that are used. This is a morphological analysis because the analysis is based on the attachment of a morpheme to construct a word. This study identifies the stems that the prefixes

dis- and de- take, the derived words with those two prefixes and the meaning they

introduce, as well as the differences between those two prefixes. Therefore, the data that is used are the analyzable derived words with the prefixes dis- and de- which are taken from Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of English Language (1981).

Unabridged C.

Research Procedures 1.

Data Collection The data source for analyzing the stems that the prefixes dis- and de- take, the derived words with those two prefixes and the meaning they introduce, as well as the differences between those two prefixes was Webster’s Third New International

Dictionary of English Language Unabridged (1981). The first thing that must be done

21 2.

Selecting the Sample

Since there are 1410 analyzable derived words with the prefixes dis- and de-, a random sampling strategy is applied to this study. The primary data that are used are the random sample of every second word. This strategy is applied because it is believed that it is adequate to draw some valid conclusions. There are two steps done in selecting the sample. First, all the analyzable derived words with the prefixes dis- and de- were listed by the order of alphabets. The list started with the prefixes dis- and was followed by the prefixes de-. The second step was selecting the sample of every second word. The sample was started by a drawing; two pieces of paper with number 1 and 2 written on them were made and number 2 was drawn. Consequently,

nd th th th

the random sample were started from the 2 word, then 4 word, 6 , 8 ,…..and so forth.

Several steps were taken in analyzing the data in order to answer the three problems. First, to answer the first problem, the data were analyzed by separating the prefixes from the stems so that the class of word of the stems could be identified; derived words with those two prefixes and the meaning they introduce, as well as the similarities and differences between those two prefixes.

This subchapter is divided into two sections. The first section is ‘The Stems that the Prefix dis- Takes’ and then is followed by ‘The Stems that the Prefix de- Takes’.

1. The Stems that the Prefix dis- Takes The prefix can be attached to nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

dis-

Table 1. The percentage of the root or stem that the prefix dis- takes Root (R) / Percentage

Number Stem (%)

N 165 46.47

23 The prefix dis- may also be combined with derived noun with certain noun suffixes. i. Suffix –ion

dis- + affection = disaffection dis- + inflation = disinflation

ii. Suffix –ship

dis- + fellowship = disfellowship

iii. Suffix -ation

dis- + palatalization = dispalatalization

iv. Suffix -ance

dis- + remembrance = disremembrance

v. Suffix

-age dis- + usage = disusage

However, there are many derived words with the prefix dis- combined with noun suffixes that, morphologically, have two possibilities of word-formation. i. Suffix -ation

, could be:

disaffirmation

disintegration , could be: dis- + integration = disintegration (or) disintegrate + -ion = disintegration

iii. Suffix –fication

disedification , could be: dis- + edification = disedification (or) disedify + -ication = disedification disunification , could be: dis- + unification = disunification (or) disunify + -ication = disunification

iv. Suffix -ment

disemployment , could be: dis- + employment = disemployment (or) disemploy + -ment = disemployment disestablishment , could be: dis- + establishment = disestablishment (or) disestablish + -ment = disestablishment

v. Suffix –ness

discontinuousness

, could be:

disagreeability, could be: dis- + agreeability = agreeability (or) disagreeable + -ity = disagreeability

vii. Suffix –ance

disappeareance , could be: dis- + appearance = disappearance (or) disappear + -ance = disappearance

viii. Suffix –al

disapproval , could be: dis- + approval = disapproval (or) disapprove + -al = disapproval

The verbs that the prefix dis- takes as its stems are as follows:

dis- + continue = discontinue dis- + incorporate = disincorporate dis- + interest = disinterest dis- + locate = dislocate

The prefix dis- may also be combined with the derived verbs with the prefix en- / em- and the suffixes -ize, -en, and -fy / -ify.

dis- + embellish = disembelish dis- + envenom = disenvenom

dis- + infective = disinfective dis- + passionate = dispassionate dis- + respectful = disrespectful

Similar to the nouns, they, morphologically, also have two possibilities of word- formation.

disconnected could be disconnect + -ed discontinuous could be discontinue + -ous dishonorable could be dishonor + -able

could be disillusion + -ary

disillusionary disinfective could be disinfect + -ive disrespectful could be disrespect + -ful

The prefix dis- can also be attached to adverbs since Quirk et al. writes that the prefix dis- “combines with open class items” (1985: 1540). Like the adjectives, the number of adverbs that the prefix dis- takes as its stems is also not high.

dis- + agreeably = disagreeably dis- + approvingly = disapprovingly dis- + honestly = dishonestly dis- + trustfully = distrustfully

They, morphologically, also have two possibilities of word-formation.

disagreeably could be disagreeable + -ly disapprovingly could be disapproving + -ly dishonestly could be dishonest + -ly

could be distrustful + -ly

distrustfully

27 The nouns that the prefix de- takes as its stems are as follows:

de- + ash = deash

+ de- code = decode de- + fusion = defusion
+ de- lime = delime
+ de- lint = delint
+ de- polish = depolish
+ de- rate = derate
+ de- train = detrain

Like the prefix dis-, the prefix de- may also be combined with derived noun with several noun suffixes: i. Suffix -ation

de- + realization = derealization de- + pigmentation = depigmentation

ii. Suffix -ion

de- + compensation = decompensation

iii. Suffix -fication

de- + zincification = dezincification

vi. Suffix -ism

de- + centralism = decentralism

28 ii. Suffix -ion

deactivation , could be: de- + activation = deactivation (or) deactivate + -ion = deactivation decarboxylation , could be: de- + carboxylation = decarboxylation (or) decarboxylate + -ion = decarboxylation

iii. Suffix -fication

dehumidification , could be: de- + humidification = dehumidification (or) dehumidify + -ication = dehumidification dehumanization , could be: de- + emulsification = demulsification (or) demulsify+ -ication = demulsification

A MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ENGLISH PREFIXES DIS- AND DE-