OH ENGLISH!

 OH ENGLISH!

What triggers this topic? The very nature of the way some words imply some ideas is indeed a baffle for the non-natives to the language. While the English language is lavish in intricacy of terms, it is also bizarre as ‘look-alikes’ among words are just ‘looks’ and not alike in meaning. Let us try to look at my inference, based on examples.

The meaning for these words have been gathered from Standard Dictionaries, dedicated to convey the native meaning thereof.

CIPHER = a system of writing that prevents most people from understanding the message . In Indian par lance cipher = 0  [poojyam /shoonya].

DECIPHER = to discover the meaning of something written badly or in a difficult or hidden way.

ADDICTION= An inability to stop doing something, especially harmful

DE-ADDICTION= the act of ‘removal’ of habit of addiction

Deforestation=to remove trees or reduce the area of spread of forest

De= ‘De ‘ is used to add the ‘opposite’, ‘remove’, ‘reduce’ to a noun or verb.

Does it mean that every time ‘De’ conveys the opposite of something? So, it is not ‘granted’ to use ‘De’ as a prefix to indicate a negative connotation for the succeeding segment in the word. Now, please consider these cases.

Terminate= to [cause something to] end or stop but,

Determinate= fixed or exact

Cadence= the regular rise and fall of voice but,

Decadence= low moral standards and behaviour.

Feat= Some act that requires a lot of skill or Strength or courage to achieve it. But,

Defeat= to win against someone in a fight or war or competition.

Lay= to put something carefully in a position for a particular purpose, But,

Delay= to make something later than planned or expected

Liberate= to help someone or something to be free, But,

Deliberate= something bad [intentional], or planned

A set of DIFFERENT words which do not fit into the frame so far observed.

DEFUNCT, DELETE,  DEJECT, DEFT , DEMON, DEVIL DEFECT with no [de –minus] words as opposites like FUNCT, LETE, JECT, MON,VIL , FECT etc.,  Such critical features in word formulation make it somewhat a ‘doubtful’ territory for beginners to develop a sense of comfort in learning English.

It is not as if we try to use nouns/ verbs to present the variation, defending our observation. Some nouns vs nouns and verbs vs verbs also can be chosen to suggest the same or similar relationship. Between De+ and De -, words.

This type of ‘not-so firm’ culture in the language baffles the learners and puts them down in their efforts to learn. The best strategy in learning English would be to simply go by the meaning intended by native usage [as found in standard Dictionaries meant for the task and not in  some regional writings which tend to ‘simplify’ information at the cost of the most valid way of using the terms]. That is why, conjunctions, prepositions and such other standard prescriptions have been given a convenient go-by, by those who have no legitimate right to do so.

Prof. K. Raman