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Usenet Posted 20 years ago
Usage

Why do we use the prefixes we do?

HI
I teach an American English basic education class. One student, last evening, was pondering over our prefix usage. Ie., why do we use one prefix with a certain word. Eg., why is "discovery" but not "uncovery" Yet, we have "dissassemble" and "unassemble." My guess is that certain prefixes were chosen by the speakers of the langusage and those usages became standardized with their inclusions into the dictionary. However, that is not very satisfactory.
If you can shed some light, or direct me to some sites that may shed some light (yes, I have been looking), please do so.

Much thanks, Di
  
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