Morphological Behavior of the Prefix 'In-' and Its Assimilated Forms in English Negation
Keywords:
Affixation, Allomorphy, Assimilation, Negation
Abstract
This study aimed to find the underlying form of the prefixes in-, im-, il-, ir- and morphological processes occurring in the complex words containing those prefixes. The researchers focus on the negation, meaning only words with a prefix that changes the initial meaning of the root word into a negative meaning are qualified. Descriptive analysis was employed. Seventy qualified words from the Oxford English Dictionary were chosen to be analysed. The researchers formulated two research questions: (1) What is the underlying form of the prefixes in-, im-, il-, and ir-? and (2) What morphological processes occurred in the complex words containing prefixes in-, im-, il-, and ir-? The findings showed that the prefix in- is the underlying form of those prefixes seen from the lenses of morphology and phonology. Further, affixation is a morphological process that occurs in complex words containing those prefixes. This study contributes to shaping a better understanding of the prefix in- and its assimilated forms for English educators and language learners. Implications are discussed.
References
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Coelho, C., Capelas, S., Couto, P. S., Vinagre, R., & Lousada, M. (2024). The Impact of Morphological Awareness on Reading and Spelling. Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial, 30, e0017. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-54702024v30e0017
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Haki, U., & Prahastiwi, E. D. (2024). Strategi pengumpulan dan analisis data dalam penelitian kualitatif pendidikan. Jurnal Inovasi Dan Teknologi Pendidikan, 3(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.46306/jurinotep.v3i1.67
Héois, A. (2022). What can Verbal Derivation Tell us about Proper Names?. Lexis. Journal in English Lexicology, (20). https://doi.org/10.4000/lexis.6589
Kau, M. E. W. (2023). Derivational Affixes in English and Arabic Words: The Process of Word Formation. Ideas: Jurnal Pendidikan, Sosial, dan Budaya, 9(4), 1267-1274.
Kusumawardhani, P., Sihombing, E., & Nuraeni, C. (2024). Derivational Morphology on Calum Scott’s Song from Bridges Album. Pujangga: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra, 10(2), 101-114. https://doi.org/10.47313/pujangga.v10i2.3791
Lieber, R. (2009). Introducing morphology. Cambridge University Press.
Masthuroh, S. A., Suryadi, M., & Subiyanto, A. (2020). Phonological Process of Prefix /In-/ In French. Retorika: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pengajarannya, 13(2), 321–327. https://doi.org/10.26858/retorika.v13i2.13516
Motamedisedeh, O. (2023). Tables. In The Ultimate Guide to Functions in Power Query: Turn Raw Data into Actionable Insights (pp. 179-346). Apress. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9754-4_8
Plag, I. (2018). Word-formation in English. Cambridge University Press.
Soares, A. C. (2025). Morphological Analysis of Prefixes in the Makasae Language. Jurnal Syntax Admiration, 6(1), 927-932. https://doi.org/10.46799/jsa.v6i1.2098
Somabhai, M. B. (2024). An Analysis of Free and Bound Morphemes in Alfred Tennyson’s Poem Entitled "Marriage Morning". Vidhyayana - An International Multidisciplinary Peer-Reviewed E-Journal - ISSN 2454-8596, 9(si3). https://doi.org/10.58213/vidhyayana.v9isi3.1783
Storme, B. (2024). French liaison is allomorphy, not allophony: evidence from lexical statistics. Morphology, 34(4), 415-455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-024-09429-8
Sukri, M., Arifuddin, A., Baharuddin, B., Apgriyanto, K., & Wardana, L. A. (2024). Indonesian Language Derivational Bound Morpheme/-em. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 14(3), 683-692. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1403.08
Summers, D. (1992). Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. Longman Inc.
Tarigan, K. J., & Sembiring, M. (2023). The Allomorphy in English Words: Morphology and Phonology Interrelated Approach. Language Literacy: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Language Teaching, 7(1), 229-240. https://doi.org/10.30743/ll.v7i1.7075
Teimi, C. (2022). Causativization in Arabic: Evidence for the interface between semantics and morpho-phonology. International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 4(4), 139-157. https://doi.org/10.36892/ijlls.v4i4.1097
Truong, T. H., Otmakhova, Y., Verspoor, K., Cohn, T., & Baldwin, T. (2024). Revisiting subword tokenization: A case study on affixal negation in large language models. arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.02421. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.02421
Williams, D. A. (2023). Women’s Words and the Words of Women in the Oxford English Dictionary. Review of English Studies, 74(316), 730-751. https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgad052
Wood, C., Garcia-Salas, M., Schatschneider, C., & Torres-Chavarro, M. (2024). Morphological Complexity in Writing: Implications for Writing Quality and Patterns of Change. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 33(3), 1432-1442. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_AJSLP-23-00265
Wulandari, S., Yatmikasari, I., & Sariyati, I. (2023). Transformation of Health Terminology through Derivational Affixation in CNN Online News. CALL: Journal of Critical Theory, Art, Language, and Literature, 5(1), 29-38. https://doi.org/10.15575/call.v5i1.16973
Xhina, O. (2021). Topic: A Linguistic Study of the English Allomorphs il, ir, im, in and their Albanian equivalence: Tema: Un estudio lingüístico de los alomorfos ingleses il, ir, im, in y su equivalencia albanesa. South Florida Journal of Development, 2(5), 7028-7039. https://doi.org/10.46932/sfjdv2n5-051
Apel, K., & Henbest, V. S. (2020). Morphological awareness skills of second-and third-grade students with and without speech sound disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51(3), 603-616. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_LSHSS-19-00045
Aronoff, M., & Fudeman, K. (2022). What is morphology? John Wiley & Sons.
Aslamiah, S. (2020). The Use of Prefixes and Suffixes for Increasing Vocabulary Students. FIKRUNA, 2(1), 41-55. https://doi.org/10.56489/fik.v2i2.19
Bonet, E. (2023). Phonologically Conditioned Allomorphy. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Morphology, 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119693604.morphcom062
Booij, G. (2012). The grammar of words: An introduction to linguistic morphology. Oxford University Press.
Bunau, E. (2022). Free and Phonologically Conditioned Allomorphs of the Bidayuh-Somu Language. European Journal of Language and Culture Studies, 1(5), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.24018/ejlang.2022.1.5.27
Cahyo, R. D. (2021). Corpus Linguistics Research: Prefix Analysis on Technological Article from abcnews.go.com. Journal of Research on Applied Linguistics, Language, and Language Teaching, 4(2), 130-137. https://doi.org/10.31002/jrlt.v4i2.1597
Chairunnisa, T., Anggraeni, D., Marshanda, P., & Jumanto, J. (2024). Analysis of the affixation process in the second victory novel by Morris West. Surakarta English and Literature Journal, 7(1), 101-116.
Coelho, C., Capelas, S., Couto, P. S., Vinagre, R., & Lousada, M. (2024). The Impact of Morphological Awareness on Reading and Spelling. Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial, 30, e0017. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-54702024v30e0017
Creswell, J. W, & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Dirgeyasa, I. W. (2024). Exploring the English Word Formation Process (A Literature Review). Journal of Language, Literature and Teaching, 6(3), 37-50. https://doi.org/10.35529/jllte.v6i3.37-50
Fitria, T. N. (2022). Analysis of word formation process in online shop’s terminologies. Kajian Linguistik dan Sastra, 7(2), 67-80. https://doi.org/10.23917/kls.v7i2.15511
Fitriyeni, F. (2024). Morphological Analysis of Students’ Writing. JETAL: Journal of English Teaching & Applied Linguistic, 5(2), 164-171. https://doi.org/10.36655/jetal.v5i2.1503
Furidha, B. W. (2023). Comprehension of the descriptive qualitative research method: A critical assessment of the literature. Acitya Wisesa: Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.56943/jmr.v2i4.443
García, P. O. (2024). English Neology: A Journey through the Oxford English Dictionary Online Newest Entries (2018-2022). GAUDEAMUS, 4, 71-102.
Goni, R. C., Triyono, S., & Sahayu, W. (2022). Morphological Analysis of Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes on Instagram’s Captions. Journal of English Language Teaching, Literature and Culture, 1(2), 99-108. https://doi.org/10.53682/jeltec.v1i2.5685
Gunawan, T., Syadiah, S. N. H., Helmie, J., Saprudin, S., & Nurviyani, V. (2025). Negation Prefixes: Document Analysis on Jakarta Post through Morphological Analysis Study Approach. Jurnal JOEPALLT (Journal of English Pedagogy, Linguistics, Literature, and Teaching), 13(1), 97-125. https://doi.org/10.35194/jj.v13i1.4918
Gusparia, G., Wirawan, F., Wahyuningsih, D., Syaftinentian, W., & Ningsih, S. G. (2022, December). An Analysis Students’ Ability in Understanding English Affixes. Proceeding of International Conference on Science and Technology (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 37-39). https://doi.org/10.36378/internationalconferenceuniks.v0i0.2820
Iseni, A., & Rexhepi, A. (2023). Prefixes of Germanic Origin. ANGLISTICUM. Journal of the Association-Institute for English Language and American Studies, 12(1), pp.40–48. https://doi.org/10.58885/ijllis.v12i1.40.ai
Haki, U., & Prahastiwi, E. D. (2024). Strategi pengumpulan dan analisis data dalam penelitian kualitatif pendidikan. Jurnal Inovasi Dan Teknologi Pendidikan, 3(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.46306/jurinotep.v3i1.67
Héois, A. (2022). What can Verbal Derivation Tell us about Proper Names?. Lexis. Journal in English Lexicology, (20). https://doi.org/10.4000/lexis.6589
Kau, M. E. W. (2023). Derivational Affixes in English and Arabic Words: The Process of Word Formation. Ideas: Jurnal Pendidikan, Sosial, dan Budaya, 9(4), 1267-1274.
Kusumawardhani, P., Sihombing, E., & Nuraeni, C. (2024). Derivational Morphology on Calum Scott’s Song from Bridges Album. Pujangga: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra, 10(2), 101-114. https://doi.org/10.47313/pujangga.v10i2.3791
Lieber, R. (2009). Introducing morphology. Cambridge University Press.
Masthuroh, S. A., Suryadi, M., & Subiyanto, A. (2020). Phonological Process of Prefix /In-/ In French. Retorika: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pengajarannya, 13(2), 321–327. https://doi.org/10.26858/retorika.v13i2.13516
Motamedisedeh, O. (2023). Tables. In The Ultimate Guide to Functions in Power Query: Turn Raw Data into Actionable Insights (pp. 179-346). Apress. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9754-4_8
Plag, I. (2018). Word-formation in English. Cambridge University Press.
Soares, A. C. (2025). Morphological Analysis of Prefixes in the Makasae Language. Jurnal Syntax Admiration, 6(1), 927-932. https://doi.org/10.46799/jsa.v6i1.2098
Somabhai, M. B. (2024). An Analysis of Free and Bound Morphemes in Alfred Tennyson’s Poem Entitled "Marriage Morning". Vidhyayana - An International Multidisciplinary Peer-Reviewed E-Journal - ISSN 2454-8596, 9(si3). https://doi.org/10.58213/vidhyayana.v9isi3.1783
Storme, B. (2024). French liaison is allomorphy, not allophony: evidence from lexical statistics. Morphology, 34(4), 415-455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-024-09429-8
Sukri, M., Arifuddin, A., Baharuddin, B., Apgriyanto, K., & Wardana, L. A. (2024). Indonesian Language Derivational Bound Morpheme/-em. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 14(3), 683-692. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1403.08
Summers, D. (1992). Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. Longman Inc.
Tarigan, K. J., & Sembiring, M. (2023). The Allomorphy in English Words: Morphology and Phonology Interrelated Approach. Language Literacy: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Language Teaching, 7(1), 229-240. https://doi.org/10.30743/ll.v7i1.7075
Teimi, C. (2022). Causativization in Arabic: Evidence for the interface between semantics and morpho-phonology. International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 4(4), 139-157. https://doi.org/10.36892/ijlls.v4i4.1097
Truong, T. H., Otmakhova, Y., Verspoor, K., Cohn, T., & Baldwin, T. (2024). Revisiting subword tokenization: A case study on affixal negation in large language models. arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.02421. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.02421
Williams, D. A. (2023). Women’s Words and the Words of Women in the Oxford English Dictionary. Review of English Studies, 74(316), 730-751. https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgad052
Wood, C., Garcia-Salas, M., Schatschneider, C., & Torres-Chavarro, M. (2024). Morphological Complexity in Writing: Implications for Writing Quality and Patterns of Change. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 33(3), 1432-1442. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_AJSLP-23-00265
Wulandari, S., Yatmikasari, I., & Sariyati, I. (2023). Transformation of Health Terminology through Derivational Affixation in CNN Online News. CALL: Journal of Critical Theory, Art, Language, and Literature, 5(1), 29-38. https://doi.org/10.15575/call.v5i1.16973
Xhina, O. (2021). Topic: A Linguistic Study of the English Allomorphs il, ir, im, in and their Albanian equivalence: Tema: Un estudio lingüístico de los alomorfos ingleses il, ir, im, in y su equivalencia albanesa. South Florida Journal of Development, 2(5), 7028-7039. https://doi.org/10.46932/sfjdv2n5-051
Published
2025-11-01
How to Cite
Riandana, M., & Bram, B. (2025). Morphological Behavior of the Prefix ’In-’ and Its Assimilated Forms in English Negation. Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, 10(2), 349-364. https://doi.org/10.21462/ijefl.v10i2.974
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Articles
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