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    ûn-
    quickinfo

    The productive prefix ûn- derives adjectives on the basis of adjectives. Its semantics is negative, the derived form referring to the opposite of the base form. Examples are beret decisive > ûnberet non-decisive and brekber fragile > ûnbrekber nonbreakable. The prefix ûn- can also derive an adjective from a past participle (when used as an adjective), with the insertion of a linking element -ge-, for instance in molken milked > ûngemolken not milked.

    The prefix ûn- can also take nominal bases.

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    [+]General properties

    The productive Germanic prefix ûn-, related to Dutch on- and English and German un-, derives adjectives on the basis of adjectives. It refers to the opposite of the base form. Examples of formations with ûn- are given in the table below:

    Table 1
    Base Derivation
    dúdlik clear ûndúdlik unclear
    echt real ûnecht false
    einich finite ûneinich infinite
    ferstannich wise ûnferstanninch unwise
    geef complete ûngeef incomplete
    gelyk same ûngelyk not the same
    hillich holy ûnhillich unholy
    ytber edible ûnytber inedible
    jildich valid ûnjildich non-valid
    krekt precise ûnkrekt not precise
    lêsber readable ûnlêsber unreadable
    mooglik possible ûnmooglik impossible
    noflik pleasant ûnnoflik unpleasant
    ôfhinklik dependent ûnôfhinklik independent
    partidich biased ûnpartidich unbiased
    stjerlik mortal ûnstjerlik immortal
    suver pure ûnsuver impure
    tankber thankful ûntankber ungrateful
    wier true ûnwier untrue
    wis certain ûnwis uncertain
    gefallich graceful ûngefallich ungraceful
    foech delicate ûnfoech indelicate
    gesellich sociable ûngesellich unsociable
    bedreaun adept (in/at) ûnbedreaun unskilled (in/at)
    brûkber usable ûnbrûkber not usable
    freonlik friendly ûnfreonlik unfriendly
    beskamsum shameful ûnbeskamsum impudent
    ynteressant interesting ûnynteressant uninteresting

    As can be seen, prefixation with ûn- primarily involves scalar adjectives. Material adjectives cannot be prefixed, e.g. houten wooden > *ûnhouten. In the normal case, relational adjectives are also excluded, for example

    1
    Hy hat in *ûnfryske frou
    he has an un-Frisian wife
    His wife is not Frisian

    Here, an alternative formation of a compound with the negative adverb net not is required, a solution that is available anyway in those cases in which the prefix ûn- is excluded. We then get in net-Fryske frou a not-Frisian wife a non-Frisian wife. If relational adjectives are prefixed with ûn-, then they are immediately forced to a scalar interpretation. For example, in ûnfrysk boek an un-Frisian book that has a low degree of "Frisianness" in that it greatly lacks the features that are so typical of Frisian books.

    [+]Opaque bases

    There are some historical ûn- derivations which have a base form that is not present (anymore) in modern Frisian. Examples are:

    Table 2
    Opaque base Derivation
    *hjirmlik ûnhjirmlik unbearable
    *huer(ich) ûnhuerich dirty
    *noazel ûnnoazel foolish
    *sjoch ûnsjoch unsightly
    *bidich ûnbidich touchy
    *dogens ûndogens naughty
    *behouwen ûnbehouwen coarse
    *lijich ûnlijich unquiet

    There is also a group of ûn- derivations which ends in one of the suffixes -ber or -lik. In theory, these might be possible base forms in Frisian, but in practice they don't exist as baseforms. Some examples are given in the table below:

    Table 3
    Opaque base Derivation
    *úteachber ûnúteachber immense
    *útbrûkber ûnútbrûkber inexhaustible
    *dwêstber ûndwêstber inextinguishable
    *kearber ûnkearber irresistible
    *oerwinlik ûnoerwinlik invincible
    *ferbetterlik ûnferbetterlik incorrigible
    *ferjitlik ûnferjitlik unforgettable
    [+]Blocking

    A derivation with ûn- from adjectival bases is sometimes blocked by the fact that such adjectives already have an antonym that represents the opposite meaning itself. For example, droech dry does not become *ûndroech because it already has wiet wet as its antonym, and waarm hot does not become *ûnwaarm because it has the antonym kâld cold.

    [+]Litotes

    Some of the potential forms that are blocked by an antonym can nevertheless come into existence when they are used in litotes constructions. Take as an example sêft soft, which has hurd hard as its antonym. Therefore, the formation ??ûnsêft un-soft is weird. Nevertheless one can encounter somewat amusing formulations like hy kaam ûnsêft del he landed roughly.

    Another situation in which such formations can become possible is in a negative-polarity construction with net notûn-. Examples are netûnaardich not un-nice not bad, netûnkreas not un-pretty not ugly or netûnwiid not un-wide not narrow. The intention of the speaker using such constructions is to express something positive, but the use of the double negation results in an understatement. This way of speaking is quite frequent in Frisian.

    [+]Past participles and the insertion of -ge-

    The prefix ûn- can also derive an adjective from a past participle (when used as an adjective). In that case, a linking element -ge- is inserted between the prefix and the adjectively used participle. In this way, an example like in makke bêd a made bed results in a negated in ûngemakke bêd an unmade bed, instead of *ûnmakke. More examples are given in the table below:

    Table 4
    Base Derivation
    noade invited ûngenoade uninvited
    skyld peeled ûngeskyld unpeeled
    sean boiled ûngesean unboiled
    skeind damaged ûngeskeind undamaged
    strutsen ironed ûngestrutsen unironed
    troud married ûngetroud unmarried
    wosken washed ûngewosken unwashed
    stimpele stamped ûngestimpele unstamped
    winske wanted ûngewinske unwanted
    frege asked ûngefrege unasked (for)
    dien done ûngedien undone
    murken noticed ûngemurken unnoticed
    treast comforted ûngetreast uncomforted

    Some of these forms are strongly lexicalized. Examples are ûngemurken unnoticed, as in ûngemurken wer fuortgean leave without being noticed, or ûngewosken unwashed in immen ûngewosken de wierheid sizze give someone a piece of one's mind.

    If the past participle is complex, the augment -ge- may not be added:

    Table 5
    Complex base Derivation Ungrammatical derivation
    beslipe sharpened ûnbeslipe unsharpened *ûngebeslipe
    trochtocht well thought-out ûntrochtocht thoughtless *ûngetrochtocht
    taret prepared ûntaret unprepared *ûngetaret
    ynfolle filled in ûnynfolle blank *ûngeynfolle
    útiten finished ûnútiten unfinished *ûngeútiten
    feroare changed ûnferoare unchanged *ûngeferoare
    beëdige sworn ûnbeëdige unsworn *ûngebeëdige
    ûntwikkele developed ûnûntwikkele undeveloped *ûngeûntwikkele
    ûnderskreaun subscribed ûnûnderskreaun unsubscribed *ûngeûntskreaun
    ferljochte lighted ûnferljochte unlighted *ûngeferljochte
    In the case of past participles displaying the non-germanic suffix -ear, the augment -ge- is not obligatory. For example: datearre (out)dated > ûndatearre undated or ûngedatearre undated, skansearre damaged > ûnskansearre undamaged or ûngeskansearre undamaged and frankearre stamped > ûnfrankearre unstamped or ûngefrankearre unstamped.
    extra
    Dutch influence?

    Derivations with this linking -ge- have sometimes been considered as 'bad Frisian', because it is thought that such forms are used under influence from Dutch. The reason is that in general Dutch past participles are prefixed with ge-, where Frisian past participles are not. There is indeed a good chance that -ge- was imported from Dutch historically, but the forms with ûnge- are so strongly rooted in the Frisian language that they can barely be seen as a synchronic influence from Dutch. Nowadays, the sequence -ge- is nothing more than a linking element between the prefix ûn- and the past participle.

    The linking element -ge- is also added to three adjectives which are not derived from past participles. These are sûn healthy > ûngesûn unhealthy (*ûnsûn), maklik comfortable > ûngemaklik uncomfortable (*ûnmaklik) and lokkich happy > ûngelokkich unhappy (*ûnlokkich).The forms without -ge- are ungrammatical.

    [+]Phonological properties

    The prefix ûn- is pronounced as [un] in the west, in accordance with the standard spelling ûn-. In the east, however, the pronunciation is [on]. In the dialect of the island of Schiermonnikoog, the vowel is fronted to the diphthong [ɛʷ]. The phoneme /n/ of the suffix is subject to processes like assimilation and nasalization. Stress is on the base form: ûnWIER, ûnNOAzel, ûnferJITlik. This also applies to forms with ûnge- [unɡə], for example in ûngeFREge or ûngeDIEN. However, for prosodic reasons the stress may fall on the prefix if the derived form is used attributively, for example in in ÛNwier ferhaal an untrue story.

    extra
    x
    Literature

    This topic is mainly based on Hoekstra (1998:76-78). On the issue of understatement, see Hoekstra (1987).

    The intrusion of -ge- before adjectively used past participles is noticed in Tamminga (1963:231) and criticized by De Jong (1967). It is defended as being an integrated element by Hoekstra (1987) and De Haan and Hoekstra (1993:24-26). A comparable intrusion of ge- in the Dutch dialect West-Fries (north of Amsterdam) is mentioned in Pannekeet (1977:91).

    For the dialectical distribution of the variants /un/ and /on/, see Hof (1948:103-104). A map, drawn on the basis of his data, is presented in Van der Veen et al. (2001:194). For the form in the dialect of the island of Schiermonnikoog, see Visser and Dyk (2002).

    References
    • Haan, Rienk de & Hoekstra, Jarich1993Morfologyske tûkelteammen by de leksikale útwreiding fan it FryskIt Beaken5514-31
    • Hoekstra, Jarich1987Negatio contrariiFriesch Dagblad23-05Taalsnipels 34
    • Hoekstra, Jarich1987Ungestimpele postsegelsFriesch Dagblad12-12Taalsnipels 56
    • Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
    • Hof, Jan Jelles1948Fan on- en ûnminskenDe Pompeblêdden: tydskrift foar Fryske stúdzje1988-92; 103-112
    • Jong, Jan de1967Wol gefelisiteardDe Pompeblêdden: tydskrift foar Fryske stúdzje38186-189
    • Pannekeet, Jan1977Woordvorming in het hedendaags WestfriesRodopi, Amsterdam
    • Tamminga, Douwe Annes1963Op 'e taelhelling. Losse trochsneden fan Frysk taellibben. IBoalsertA.J. Osinga
    • Veen, Klaas F. van der, Rypma, Wytske & Versloot, Arjen2001Dialektgeografyske oantekens fan J.J. HofLjouwertFryske Akademy
    • Visser, Willem & Dyk, Siebren2002Eilander Wezzenbúek: woordenboek van het SchiermonnikoogsFryske Akademy Ljouwert
    About this article
    Author(s): Siebren Dyk, Joke Weening
    Category: Frisian Morphology
    Keywords: prefixadjectiveblockingnegation
    Version: 1.0, July 2017
    Version history:
    version editor(s) date remarks
    1.0 Siebren Dyk July 2017
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