Negative Affixes in English (Afiks Negasi dalam Bahasa Inggris) by Dedy Subandowo

Thesis
Negation is the act or an instance of denying (Rakhmania, 2009:1). Almost as soon as we are born, we can use negation, indicating by gesture or other behavior that we reject, exclude or disagree with something. By gesture, we can show negation by shaking our head by moving it side to side. Another way of negating is through utterance. In grammar, negation is the process to transform an affirmative statement into its opposite (negative statement). We often use a single word ‘no’ or ‘not’.

Affixal negation is a process of word-formation, by which a new word is built from a word stem, usually through the addition of an affix, either at the beginning (prefix) or end of the stem (suffix). A negative affix is an affix that opposes or negates a word (Dzuganova, 2006:332). The word “disagree” also denotes negation because it is the opposite of the word agree a positive idea which then be added by a prefix dis-, indicating negative idea.

There are five negative prefixes:
A-
Dis-
In-
Non-,
Un-
And only one negative suffix; -less. (Dzuganova, 2006:332)

Prefix a- (Greek alphaprivativum)
The negative prefix a- is used most often with adjectives and nouns.
e.g a- + noun : asymmetry
a- + adjective : amoral

Prefix dis- (Latin)
The negative prefix dis- is used most often verb, adjective and abstract noun.
e.g dis- + Verb : dislike
dis- + Adjective : dishonest
dis- + Abstract noun : displeasure
The negative prefix in- added to adjectives and nouns.
e.g in- + adjective : incomplete
in- + noun : inattention
Prefix in- can have five allomorphs: in-, im-, il-, ir-, ig-.
in- im- (“b”, “m”, “p”)
e.g imbalance, immature,impatient
in- il- (“l”) e.g illegal, illogical
in- ir- (“r”) e.g irregular, irreplaceable
in- ig- (“n”) e.g ignoble, ignorance

Non- can be added to almost any adjective.
e.g non-active, nonessential, non-productive.
Non- also combines with many nouns, as in nonentity, non-residence, and non­smoker.
Non- formed adjectives are morphologically complex words, most of them end in -al, -ible, -ic, -ing, -ous.e.g nonessential, nonreprehensible, non-specific, non-irritating, noncontagious.

Negative prefix un- chiefly attaches to simple adjectives with a native basis:
E.g : unafraid, unfair, unclean, unfair
Negative prefix un- attaches to adjectives made of participles:
E.g : unending, unfeeling, unemployed, unseen

Suffix –less was often used to convey the negative or opposite of words ending in –ful.
e.g : careful – careless, helpful – helpless, meaningful - meaning­less,

The Beautiful of Merapi Monday Feb 21st, 2011

jalan-jalan ke gunung merapi hari senin 21 feb 2011 bareng temen2 dari gardena.