N.I.Voytkevich

Bukovinian State Medical University, Chernivtsi

TROUBLESOME PREFIXES IN ENGLISH MEDICAL/STOMATOLOGICAL TERMINOLOGY

Although English is considered to be an analytical language, its morphological system in the form of morphemes reveals the properties and corresponding constituent functions of the words. The morpheme is a meaningful segmental component of the word studied from the view of two basic criteria: its position and function/semantics. The combination of these two criteria has led to the rational classification of morphemes that is widely used both in research linguistic work and in practical lingual learning.

According to the traditional classification, morphemes are divided into roots and affixes. The roots express the concrete, “material” part of the meaning of the word, while the affixes express the specific part of the meaning of the word – lexical-semantic and grammatical-semantic in character. The affixes include prefixes, suffixes, and inflexions. Of these, prefixes and suffixes have word-building/lexical-semantic functions, together with the root they form the stem of the word; inflexions express different grammatical categories. Thus, the abstract complete morphemic model of the common English word, including the term, is the following: prefix + root + suffix + inflexion.

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English by A.S.Hornby the following definitions of affixes can be found: “Prefix is a letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning”; “Suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to make another word”.

Prefixes never change their spelling, but many prefixes have variants of spelling depending on the initial letter of the word to which the prefix is attached. Some prefixes are still productive; that is, derivative words are formed with their help, for example, conscious – unconscious, function – dysfunction. But in most cases a prefix cannot be taken and attached to some word to form another word without knowing that such derivative word exists in English. One cannot replace one prefix with another, even if the prefixes have similar meanings, so the words should be learnt with prefixes the way they are.

Main difficulties in the use of prefixes are: 1) choosing between the prefixes having similar meaning with different spelling and pronunciation; 2) memorizing the words written with a certain prefix in each particular case either with a hyphen or as one solid word. (Note: in BE a hyphen form is preferable, in AE – as one solid word).

All these details are of a particular importance while dealing with scientific terminology, especially medical/stomatological, as the science does not allow any inaccuracy. There are several similar prefixes that often present a problem for language learners. We have chosen the following ones as those presenting certain difficulties in their use, thus, troublesome ones: for, fore; de, di, dis/dys; un, in, il, ir, im.

The prefix for has the following meanings: away, off, extremely, wrongly. It occurs in a limited number of verbs and their derivatives. Many of such words are archaic, but some are still in use: forbear (instead of ancestor), forbid, forgive, forlorn (instead of lonely and unhappy). It should be noted, that the words “forbears, forebears” have the same meaning “ancestors”; and the word “forward” was formed in the following way: fore + ward, but the letter e was lost.

The prefix fore has the following meanings: before, in advance, in front, front. It is found in a number of verbs and nouns, and it is more preferable in modern English, than for: forearm, forebrain, foreconscious, forefinger, forehead.

The prefixes de, di, dis/dys have similar meanings and are found in verbs and their derivatives. Most often the prefixes de and di are confused, as they are similar in their meaning (removal, separation, negation, descent, reverse action) and pronounced in the same manner: [di]. (Note: in some cases, de is pronounced [de], and di is pronounced [dai].) The prefix di is a variant of dis and has the same meanings. It was used in Latin instead if dis before certain consonants and remained like that in English. The prefix di with its negative meaning should be differentiated from the prefix with the same spelling but the meaning “double, two”: diacid, diarthric, dibasic etc. There are no rules that could help to choose among these prefixes, so the best way is to arrange words with these prefixes in three groups and learn them by comparing their spelling:

1) decompose, deform, dealbation, debride, decalcify, desalivate, desensitize;

2) disable, disability, discrepancy, disinfect, disocclude, displace, dissection;

3) digress, distress, diversion, diversify, digest, divergent.

The prefix dys (meaning bad, ill) is found mostly in medical terms: dysfunction, dysgnathia, dysodontiasis, dysplasia, dysphasia, dystrophy.

As to the prefixes un and in, there are no rules that could help to choose between them. But it should be noted that un is of old English origin and it is widely used in English words of native origin, while the prefix in is of Latin origin and is used mostly in words derived from Latin or Greek. Another helpful tip is that un is mostly used in adjectives/participles giving the words opposite or negative or reverse meaning: unconscious, unsaturated, undying, unable, uneatable, unlimited, unnatural; undress, unfasten, unmask, unplug. The prefix in is mostly used in nouns and verbs having the meanings “inside, into”, and the meaning “not” in adjectives: inclusion, ingrowth, inlay, inborn, inosculate, insanitary, intolerance, invertebrate, incapable, indirect, inhuman, insensitive, intolerable, intolerant.

In some case, the adjectives have the prefix un, and the related nouns have the prefix in: unable – inability; unequal – inequality.

Several transformations of the prefix in should be mentioned here as well. It turns into the prefix il before the consonant l, into im before m and p, and into ir before r: legal – illegal, legible – illegible, logical – illogical; mature – immature, mobilize – immobilize, mobile – immobile; patient – impatient, palpable – impalpable, par – impar, permeable – impermeable; rational – irrational, regular – irregular, reducible – irreducible, reversible – irreversible.

Most of the English prefixes, especially in medical terminology, are of Latin or Greek origin. Some of them are understandable in different languages of the world without any difficulty, as they are international having the same meaning in various verbal systems. These are the prefixes anti, post, ex, inter and the like. Some of the words are built by simple adding the prefix to the root of the word. For example, dental – interdental, traction – extraction, septic – antiseptic. There are words undivided at first sight, thus without prefixes: infinite, predict. But more careful examination of the words allows detecting their roots: final, dictate respectively.

Understanding and learning English prefixes enable us to memorize the words better and to use them more effectively. Word-building can be performed by means of prefixes that are able to change the meaning of the words, but not their belonging to a certain part of speech. So, an adjective is not transformed into a noun, or a verb into an adverb. Moreover, there are no prefixes peculiar for any part of speech in English. One and the same prefix can be used equally with a noun, verb or adjective: irradiation (noun), irradiate (verb), irregular (adjective). The clusters of paronymous words do not usually have the same prefixes. For example, the cluster with the root able: able – to enable – unable – inability – disability.

The prefix, having the elementary character of the morpheme in the structure of the word, and helping to realize the elementary character of the word as a nominative unit in the system of language, needs to be carefully studied. The prefix as a meaningful segmental component of the word together with other nominative units is used for the formation of sentences – a unit of information in the communication process, that is, the language as the highest achievement of the human society distinguishing it from the animal world.

References:

1. Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. – Nautilus Publishing House, Lviv, Ukraine, 2004. – 2688 p.

2. Hornby A.S. Oxford Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary of Current English. – Oxford University Press, 2004. – 1600 p.