Reversives: The case of un-prefixation in verbs

Abstract

This paper investigates the group of un-prefixed verbs or "reversives" with respect to their aspectual features. The aim is to see whether or not these verbs form a homogeneous group. With the new stream of words and the high "productivity" of the prefix un-, new terms are coined according to the needs and conceptualizations of language users. Examples of this sort include uninstall, unlike, unfriend, etc. These newly-coined terms do not easily fall into the conventional categories defined for the group of reversive verbs and show diversity with respect to their aspectual features. Therefore, the group of un-prefixed verbs cannot be defined by a set of simplistic word-formation rules.