The Differences between "Un" and "Dis" (Morphology)

INTRODUCTION

1.1.The Reasons

There are many people does not know when the negative prefixes ‘dis’ and ‘un’ are use, and where to apply the negative prefix ‘un’ and ‘dis’ correctly. And many people debated about that, because of ‘dis’ and un’ have a similar meaning.

1.2.Theory

Ø  English Prefixes are affixes (bound morphemes that provide lexical meaning) that are added before either simple roots or complex bases (or operands) consisting of (a0 a root and other affixes, (b) multiple roots, or (c) multiple roots and other affixes. Example or these follow:

·         Undo (consisting of prefix un- and root do)

·         untouchable (consisting of prefix un-, root touch, and suffix -able)

English words may consist of multiple prefixes: anti-pseudo-classicism (containing both an anti- prefix and a pseudo- prefix). In English, all prefixes are derivational. (Wikipedia.com)

Ø  John in the Web Page “Pain In the English” said that English has 2 “un-“ prefixes. One means ‘not’ or ‘opposite’, as in unclean and unsatisfied. And the other indicates a reverse of the action, as in untie. And “dis-“ means ‘not’, absence of, opposite of, and reverse. So the meanings are very similar.

Ø  The phonological status of the affixes is characterized by the absence of an independent form and the impossibility to make a pause between them and the stem they attach to the affixes can be used with any verb or adjective, and cannot be used with any other word class. An exception is the superlative marker anà-, which can only attach to adjectives. All of them are used in any variety of the language with high frequency, with the exception of kànà- and -de. Stacking (i.e. adding more than one prefix to a verb) is not possible (cf. Slomanson 2006:144).

Ø  This prefix is used to mark events as occurring in the past (Smith & Paauw 2006:166)

FIND/ DISCUSSION

            There are many kinds of negative prefixes, such as in, un, dis, a, il, ir. The prefix in- can be assimilated: il- before an l; im- before b, m or p; ir- before r. the prefix dis- is of Latin origin, where it had privative, negative, or reversing force. a- is the trickier of all, because it has many origins and variants. In the sense of “not” or “without”, a- comes from the Greek, where it had the same meaning.

English has 2 "un-" prefixes. One means not or opposite, as in unclean, unsatisfied, and the other indicates a reverse of the action, as in untie. "dis" means not, absence of, opposite of, reverse. So the meanings are very similar. (John. 2008). In the same time David argued that the prefix "dis" can be read as "not very much," and the prefix "un" (for these words) can be read as "not at all.",

ü  Dis-" is also a Latinate prefix, but it often means more than the simple negation of "un-". With verbs it may imply some action (often of removal) employed to create a negative state or the absence of something. The difference is usually more obvious in the past participle. Usually the form with "un-" cannot even be used as a verb.

Arm / disarm (remove weapons from)

Unarmed - not carrying a weapon

Disarmed - having had one's weapon( s) taken away

Infect / disinfect (remove possible sources of infection)

Uninfected - not having an infection

Disinfected - having had possible sources of infection removed

Qualify / disqualify (remove from competition or consideration)

Unqualified - not having the proper qualities or qualifications

Disqualified - judged to be unqualified; having been removed from consideration.

ü  "un-" is the native English prefix for negation, but it combines freely with nonnative roots as well. It is the most used prefix of its kind. It is used with verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, but also sometimes with abstract nouns -- not with concrete nouns ("*an unchair", "*an unbowl"). It can indicate simple negation (adjective) ("happy / unhappy") or it can indicate reversal of a process (verb) ("lock / unlock").

able / unable || tidy / untidy || cooperative / uncooperative || safe / unsafe ||
helpful / unhelpful || grateful / ungrateful || likeable / unlikeable || suitable / unsuitable || kind, unkind

Whenever there is a common word which is the opposite, the "un-" form does not exist: high / low (*unhigh, *unlow) fast / slow (*unfast, *unslow). But speakers sometimes mistakenly use such forms as "unthaw" for "thaw" (freeze / thaw, *unfreeze / *unthaw) or "unloosen" for "loosen" (tighten / loosen, *untighten, *unloosen).

Pack / unpack || dress / undress || screw / unscrew || wind / unwind || tie / untie || roll / unroll || veil / unveil || cover / uncover

(Note how many of these form phrasal verbs with "up", e.g., dress up, wind up, tie up, roll up, cover up.)

In traditional English usage, "dis" applies to nouns, "un" applies to verbs. Thus, when I am "unsatisfied", I am in a state of "dissatisfaction". I cannot be "dissatisfied"; I can only be "unsatisfied".

v  Lexical Tools Derivations

Prefix	Sense	Example
	Not, opposite of	Disloyal, disagree
Dis-	Reverse action, get rid of	Disconnect, disinformation
	Apart	Dissect
Un-	Not, opposite	Unnecessary, unequal, unfasten, unbuckle, uncover, unwrap
	Reverse action, deprive of, release from	Undo, untie, unwind, unbind, unfold

v  Many speakers distinguish between disorganized and unorganized.

Disorganized applies to the sort of person who stuffs receipts into the sock drawer and can never find the car keys. Unorganized applies to things which have not yet been arranged in an organized manner. By this reasoning, a person would be disorganized, but an office would be unorganized.

Example: "Unorganized": No one has ever organized my bookshelves. They are unorganized.
"Disorganized": I dumped my purse on the floor in a desperate search for my keys. Now the contents are disorganized.

v  Words that take dis- and un- as a negative prefix may begin with a vowel or a consonant.

Affirmative	Negative
Agree	Disagree
Comfort	Discomfort
Mount	Dismount
Orient	Disorient

Affirmative	Negative
Able	Unable
Interesting	uninteresting
Usual	Unusual
comfortable	Uncomfortable
Helpful	Unhelpful
Prepared	Unprepared

CONCLUSSION

There are no rules to apply the negative prefixes (un and dis), we just have to use the dictionary. The negative prefix un- means “not at all”, and dis- means “opposite of”. The negative prefix Dis- is stronger degree of negation than Un-. “Un-” used with verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, but also sometimes with abstract nouns. And “Dis-” used with verb.

REFERENCES

Phyllis.24^th September, 2008. “UnVSDis”. Accessed on 29^th march, 2014. Fron http://painintheenglish.com/case/3431/

Vilk.9^th oct,2001.”BoundMorpheme”. accessed on 31^st march, 2014.from http://everything2.com/title/bound+morpheme

Anonym.March,2009.“Origins of negative prefixes like in-, un-, il-, ir-, dis-, a-“.Accessedon29^th march, 2014. From http://www.englishforums.com/English/PrefixesNegativePrefixes/wvkl/post.htm

Anonym. 2012. “Lexical Tools”. Accessed on 29^th march, 2014. From http://lexsrv3.nlm.nih.gov/LexSysGroup/Projects/lvg/2012/docs/designDoc/UDF/derivations/prefixList.html

Laura K Lawless. E Learning English Language. “Negative Prefixes”. Accessed on 31^st march, 2014. From http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/blog/learn-english/grammar/negative-prefixes/

John Atkinson. March 25, 2011. My English Class. “Negative Prefix Before Adjectives”.accessed on march 30,2014. From http://inmadom-myenglishclass.blogspot.com/2011/03/negative-prefixes-before-adjectives.html

Roger Smith. “Prefixes Un- and Dis-“. Accessed on march 29, 2014. From http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/prefix2.html

Anonymous. “Prefixes, how and where to use negative prefixes like un-,dis,non-,etc?”. accessed on march 30, 2014. From http://www.englishforums.com/English/PrefixesNegativePrefixes/wvkl/post.htm

Maeve Maddox. DailyWrittingTips. “the Different Between un- and dis-“. Accessed on march 29, 2014. From http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-difference-between-un-and-dis/