Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The lexicon: words old and new
- 1 LEXICAL ACQUISITION
- 2 CASE STUDIES OF LEXICAL INNOVATION
- 8 Words for things
- 9 More words for things
- 10 Words for agents and instruments
- 11 Words for actions
- 12 Words for undoing actions
- 3 CONCLUSION
- Bibliography
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
12 - Words for undoing actions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The lexicon: words old and new
- 1 LEXICAL ACQUISITION
- 2 CASE STUDIES OF LEXICAL INNOVATION
- 8 Words for things
- 9 More words for things
- 10 Words for agents and instruments
- 11 Words for actions
- 12 Words for undoing actions
- 3 CONCLUSION
- Bibliography
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
Summary
String can be knotted or unknotted. Lights can be turned on or off. Doors can be opened or closed. Among the many actions we can talk about are reversals of actions performed earlier. In English, the notion of undoing or reversal can be expressed in several ways. The most widespread is through use of a productive prefix, un-, added to the verb, as in fold to unfold or tie to untie. Reversal can also be expressed through use of verb particles such as off, as in the shift from switch on to switch off. Or it can be expressed suppletively by verbs unrelated in form, as in pairs like bend and straighten or lose and find. In addition, there are mixed verb cases where one of the pair occurs with a particle but its reversal has un-, as in tuck in to untuck, or where both verb and particle change in the expression of reversal, as in put on to take off.
Forms for the expression of reversal can take several shapes, and each language typically makes use of more than one means. In English, one uses a prefix on the verb, un-, as in unknot. Or one might use a particle like back, often combined with an adverb like again, as in put X back again.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Lexicon in Acquisition , pp. 219 - 238Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993