Speak English? An unlong, ilusual survey just for you

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    English Survey
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a survey related to the preferences for various negating prefixes in English morphology. Participants are asked to express their preferences for different prefixes attached to adjectives, as well as to rank their acceptability. The survey aims to explore how speakers perceive and choose between these prefixes, particularly in the context of forming antonyms.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express confusion about the purpose of the survey, questioning why the focus is on negating adjectives rather than exploring opposites of negative adjectives.
  • One participant notes that they found the second section of the survey challenging, particularly when distinguishing between less obvious choices.
  • Another participant shares their preference for the prefix 'un-' over others, suggesting a pattern in their choices and reflecting on their reasoning process.
  • Several participants mention their native languages and other languages they speak, indicating a diverse linguistic background among respondents.
  • A participant reflects on the difficulty of ranking the less obvious prefixes and expresses surprise at some choices made by others.
  • One participant notes that their understanding of prefix usage has evolved through the exercise, highlighting a personal learning experience.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the purpose of the survey or the best approach to prefix usage. There are multiple competing views regarding the acceptability and preference of different prefixes, and the discussion remains unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about the definitions of terms like "native language," and there are varying levels of familiarity with the prefixes discussed. The survey's informal nature and the subjective preferences expressed may limit the generalizability of the results.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in linguistics, particularly morphology and language acquisition, may find the discussion and survey insights valuable. Language learners and educators could also benefit from the exploration of prefix usage and speaker preferences.

  • #31
honestrosewater said:
See, this is where I thought biographically native speakers would differ from non-native speakers. I imagine that a native speaker, who learned the language mainly by listening to other speakers, could rely more heavily on whether a word 'sounds right' to them. While non-native speakers, who learned the language primarily by being taught rules, could rely more heavily on rules. Additionally, natives don't necessarily know the rules (not consciously anyway), as non-natives don't necessarily know the 'right' sound.
Did you learn English as a child, i.e., grow up speaking English, or were you taught it formally later, in school or such?
I learned English as a child and grew up speaking it more than my native tongue. I learned the language essentially as a native speaker would. And as I mentioned before, I didn't know of the existence of rules for the correct choice of affix. When I saw a word on the list, I went through words of (i) similar meaning (or at least part of speech), and (ii) similar sound, to make my choices by pattern matching.

It was this process that lead me to notice certain "rules" and how strict some rules were and how some weren't so. For instance (speaking of the unstrict rules), un- seems to be used mostly on adjectives and rarely on nouns, for which, in- is more frequently used. In fact there are some adjectives, like 'unjust' (this came from thinking about 'legal'), for which the noun form uses in- (as in 'injustice'). I noticed several more of these : unstable, undecided, undivided, etc.

Let me not go on and on about all the exciting discoveries I made during the course of this exercise. :rolleyes:
 
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  • #32
1u 2u 3i 4u 5u 6u 7u 8u 9u 10i

1munlr 2unmlr 3munlr 4munlr 5lumnr 6rulnm 7umlnr 8umnlr 9munlr 10umnlr

Native language - English (American dialect, no geographical influences). Have not read further into thread.

So what did you think - easy, difficult? Did you notice any patterns? Have any guesses about how or why you came to any of your decisions? I'll post how and why I made up the survey in a little while.

A little awkward at times. The "ir" on the second part sounded really odd on all of the words, so the only one that wasn't last on that one was 6. Most of mine were a combination of "u" and "m" sounds.
 
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  • #33
Gokul43201 said:
Let me not go on and on about all the exciting discoveries I made during the course of this exercise. :rolleyes:
Heehee, I think it's quite fascinating. I'm starting my morphology chapter now - I'll let you know if I discover anything exciting. :biggrin: