There are many words in our Portuguese language formed by prefixes whose meanings are attributed to various aspects, including negation. Thus, we have words such as: desloyal, inunderstandable, incompatible, inuseful, desfavorable, etc. We found that the prefixes “-des” and “-in” were responsible for giving the words the meaning in question.
We also know that there are other words, although not formed by the same prefix, but which carry the same semantic charge. Examples such as “non-verbal”, “non-completed”, “non-polluting”, etc., reveal that the prefixes highlighted above do not would fit, as it would sound a bit strange to say "inverbal", "unverbal", "unfinished" and so on go. Thus, given this linguistic fact, we have to stick to two very important observations: the first one concerns the use of the hyphen, whose presence is due to the fact of demarcating that the “no” was shifted from one function to another, that is, what used to act (and still does) as an adverbial adjunct now plays the role of a prefix. Such an occurrence, by the recent sign, attests to the dualism existing between the words, that is, the non-verbal x verbal, the non-concluded x completed and so on.
The other aspect, no less important, refers to the fact that after the advent promulgated by the new reform orthographic, the hyphen, previously demarcated in the words consisting of the "no" as a prefix, is no longer exist. Thus, the VOLP (Orthographic Vocabulary of the Portuguese Language) attests that now the examples mentioned above, as well as the others, do not include the use of this sign. I.e:
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NOT VERBAL
NOT COMPLETED
NON-POLLUTING...
As a good user of this vast language, don't forget to pay attention to the many assumptions that demarcate it, including the one we just checked.
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
DUARTE, Vânia Maria do Nascimento. "The no as a prefix: with a hyphen or without a hyphen?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/o-nao-como-prefixo-com-hifen-ou-sem-hifen.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.