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From: asa@rayssd.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: 'lost positives'
Message-ID: <362@rayssd.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Jan-84 08:55:24 EST
Article-I.D.: rayssd.362
Posted: Thu Jan 26 08:55:24 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Jan-84 01:05:20 EST
Organization: Raytheon Co., Portsmouth RI
Lines: 55

Subject: Re: 'lost positives'
Newsgroups: net.nlang
 <>

Here are some thoughts on the problems of 'missing positives' and other
esoteric issues in natural languages. I hope they help- it is fun to
speculate on the diachronic variations of languages, especially when
there is a weird mixture, as in English.

With regard to 'missing positives, searching the dictionary under the
prefixes 'in_', 'un_' and 'mis_' reveals some interesting changes. Try
these, for example:
   'inveterate'- descended from the Greek 'etos' (year); we
		have 'veterans', but does one refer to ones grandparents
		as 'vetus'?
   'intransigent'- have you heard it said that two groups 'transigized'?
   'unseemly'- does anyone say that an act is 'seemly' (except in a few
		dialects)?
   'uncanny' - look up 'canny' for a real mis-mash!
   'ungainly'- what does 'gainly' look like?
   'untouchable'- who are the 'touchables'?
   'unruly'- anyone ever heard of a crowd referred to as 'ruly'
		Note: we might 'rediscover this for AI, and have 'ruly'
		or 'unruly' expert systems, n'est pas?
   'misbegotten'- are you referred to as 'begotten'?
   'miscegenation'- when two people of the same skin ahve sex, do we
		usually say that they are 'cegenating'?
  
Enough of that! I want to introduce some new food for thought.

How about 'skewed' positives, as in the following examples?
 
 'untowards', 'disbarred', 'disrobe', 'increase', 'myopia', 'presbyopia' 
'hypermetropia' 

These words have the interesting propery that a 'positive', or 'stem'
word is still in use but not in the way that the word would suggest, or
the stem has never been used. There are lots of these, also.

How about 'skewed' (or 'lost') iteratives, as in 'refractory',
or 'recalcitrant'? 

How about 'rediscoverd' iteratives, as in 'iterate' and 'reiterate'?
This example shows an interesting tendency towards the use of redundant
prefixes and suffixes when the stems are not in general use.

How about 'lost negatives' (or 'opposites'), as in
   'enflame' vs 'inflame'
   'deceive'
   'deduce'
   'ensure' vs 'insure'?
The first and fourth examples show the impact of the loss of precise
enunciation in American speech. This effect is also reflected in the
uncertainty of Americans in spelling words ending in suffixes such
as 'ment'. That is an intersting discussion all by itself.