engleski

Unpaired negative words: The case of a missing antonym

As a language with a turbulent history and almost over billion of speakers, English never ceases to amaze both the native and non-native speakers. Although English has been around for centuries, there always seems to be something intriguing enough to make one wonder and question certain aspects of English. One such aspect is certainly its morphology. A language as rich in word formation processes as English seems not to have yielded a satisfactory solution, or even an explanation, for some thought-provoking English words. One can be disheveled, but never sheveled. One might be overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but he is never just whelmed. Someone may be ruthless, but rarely will we hear: “He has got no ruth.” As odd as it may seem, some words tend to appear only in their negative form, leaving the language user in awe of their lost positive pair. Some are rather common, so there is no need to question their forgotten or maybe suppressed, corresponding positive antonyms. Others, on the other hand, are quite rare in their negative form, let alone in their seemingly nonexistent positive form. But, if one chooses to believe the claim that humans evaluate their experiences on a basis of two words at the opposite ends of the spectrum, then the case of a missing antonym might be too valuable to ignore.

unpaired words, corresponding positive, missing antonym

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