Hyphenation ofnonpoisonousness

Linguistic Analysis of "nonpoisonousness"

1. Pronunciation Examination:

The word "nonpoisonousness" is pronounced with a relatively complex structure, involving multiple morphemes and potential vowel reduction in unstressed syllables. The pronunciation varies slightly depending on regional accents, but a General American pronunciation is used for this analysis.

2. Syllable Division:

Following English syllabification rules, the word is divided as follows (using only original letters): non-poi-son-ous-ness

3. Morphemic Analysis:

• Prefix: non- (Latin origin, meaning "not"). Morphological function: negation.
• Root: poison (Old French poison, from Latin potionem "a drink"). Morphological function: core meaning of the word.
• Suffix: -ous (Latin origin, meaning "full of"). Morphological function: adjective formation.
• Suffix: -ness (Old English -nes, from -nessu). Morphological function: noun formation.

4. Stress Identification:

The primary stress falls on the third syllable: non-poi-son-ous-ness.

5. Phonetic Transcription:

/ˌnɑnˈpɔɪzənəsˌnɛs/

6. Edge Case Review:

The sequence "-son-" can sometimes be a point of ambiguity, but in this case, it clearly belongs with the root "poison". The final "-ness" is a common suffix and doesn't present any unusual syllabification challenges.

7. Grammatical Role:

"Nonpoisonousness" functions primarily as a noun. The syllabification and stress remain consistent regardless of its grammatical role.

8. Definition & Semantics:

• Definition: The state or quality of not being poisonous.
• Grammatical Category: Noun
• Synonyms: harmlessness, non-toxicity
• Antonyms: toxicity, poisonousness
• Examples: "The nonpoisonousness of the berries allowed the birds to eat them safely."

9. Phonological Comparison:

• dangerousness: dan-ger-ous-ness. Similar structure with a root and suffixes. Stress falls on the second syllable.
• happiness: hap-pi-ness. Simpler structure, but shares the "-ness" suffix. Stress falls on the first syllable.
• poisonous: poi-son-ous. Shares the root "poison" and the "-ous" suffix. Stress falls on the second syllable.

The differences in stress placement are due to the presence of the prefix "non-" in "nonpoisonousness," which shifts the stress pattern. The length of the word also influences the stress pattern.

Detailed Syllable Analysis:

Division Rules Applied:

1. Vowel-CVC Rule: Syllables are often formed around vowel sounds, with consonant clusters following the vowel.
2. Vowel-C Rule: Syllables are formed around vowel sounds followed by a single consonant.
3. Consonant Cluster Rule: Consonant clusters are generally maintained within a syllable unless they can be broken up by a vowel.

Special Considerations:

• The prefix "non-" is always a separate syllable.
• The "-ous" and "-ness" suffixes are generally separate syllables.
• Regional variations in pronunciation might affect the vowel quality in unstressed syllables.

Alternative Pronunciations/Regional Variations:

Some speakers might reduce the vowel in "non" to /nən/. This doesn't significantly alter the syllable division.