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Using "non-" to prefix a two-word phrase - English Language & Usage ...
What is the correct way to apply the prefix "non-" to negate a (maybe dashed) compound adjective? Suppose that we want to negate a generic compound adjective " adjective1 adjective2 ". In this case: "non- adjective1 adjective2 " looks a bit ambiguous since the scope of the prefix "non-" is at least unclear (in fact seems to affect only adjective1).
At the linguistics conference, there were no / not / non- native speakers of Esperanto. They're all grammatically "valid", but they all mean different things - and pragmatically / idiomatically, only the no version is likely to be used.
To record and summarize the discussion in the comments, while the OED mostly uses the hyphen, many other dictionaries don't, and the ngrams show higher non-hyphenated usage than hyphenated.
compounds - Dash after the prefix "non" - English Language & Usage ...
"Non-" is defined as "a prefix meaning 'not,' freely used as an English formative, usually with a simple negative force as implying mere negation or absence of something (rather than the opposite or reverse of it, as often expressed by un-). "
prefixes - When is the prefix non- used vs un-? - English Language ...
