否定接頭辞non-の言語学的特徴 : in-とun-との比較において
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概要
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Some scholars have described the linguistic features of the English negative prefixes, especially dis-, in-, un- and non- in each of their papers. Allen (1978a, b) shows the phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic differences of in-, un- and non-, classifying them into two classes, Class I affixes and Class II affixes based on linguistic features. It is true that all affixes have their own linguistic features for producing new words. For example, the un- prefix is productive of a great number of derivative adjectives. Another affix, -less, occurs mainly at the end of nouns and verbs to produce new adjectives. The comparison of some of the negative affixes according to the methodology of Siegel (1974) and Allen enables us to appreciate easily the specific distinctions of the affixes concerned. However, non- in itself has not been examined in extensive detail by scholars except in the context of comparison with other negative prefixes. In general, non- occurs at some syntactic categories such as nouns as in non-acceptance, adjectives as in non-accountable, and adverbs as in non-consensually, while in- and un- attach mostly to adjectives. In this brief point, we will see that non- is much more productive than the other two prefixes. The extent to which non- is used in samples found from 1300's to 1800's is shown in the following discussion. In this paper, I will also show the linguistic features of non- from various (especially, diachronic) viewpoints, considering when this prefix came into English. For this paper, the Oxford English Dictionary 2^<nd> edition, which gives us general information of non-, was indispensable in the examination of this prefix. Besides the OED, this paper made much use of the analysis by Allen (1978a, b).