From adjective to prefix. The influence of word order patterns on grammaticalization
(2010) International Morphology Meeting 14 — Location: Budapest, Hongrie (13.May.2010)
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- In this paper I will present the results of a new research on affixization of adjectives in French and Dutch. Affixization is the grammaticalization process by which lexemes may develop into affixes (prefixes or suffixes). This process presents different stages: firstly the lexeme takes part of a compound pattern, then it can become productive and develop a specific meaning, taking part of a constructional idiom (cf. Booij 2005a, 2005b, 2008) and finally it can further grammaticalize into a true affix. In the intermediate stage of affixization it can be considered an ‘affixoid’. Previous studies have shown that grammatical morphemes such as prepositions and adverbs may further grammaticalize and become to act as true prefixes (cf. among others Amiot 2004 & 2005 and Van Goethem 2006), undergoing grammaticalization processes such as de- or resemanticization, subjectification, paradigmaticization (competition with true prefixes such as hyper-), condensation (scope reduction) and increase in productivity (cf. Kühnhold et al. 1978, Lehmann 1995, Marchello-Nizia 2006, Ten Hacken 2000). This phenomenon occurs in both Germanic and Romance languages: e.g. French sur-estimer / Dutch over-schatten (‘to overestimate’). This ‘affixization’ process may also affect major categories such as adjectives and nouns, but in this aspect Romance (French) and Germanic languages (Dutch) are widely divergent. In particular, affixization of nouns and adjectives seems to be more productive and more advanced in Germanic languages. In previous research, Van Goethem & Amiot (2009) focused on the affixization of nouns. In this paper, affixization of adjectives will be the central topic. Adjectives used as ‘prefixoids’ (cf. Booij 2005a) occur in both French and Dutch, but are clearly more productive in Dutch. Whereas in French this phenomenon seems to be largely restricted to adjectives denoting degrees of family relationship (e.g. grand-père ‘grandfather’, petite-fille ‘granddaughter’, beau-fils ‘son-in-law’) (Corbin 2001), it has broader applications in Dutch. For example, the Dutch adjective oud ‘old’ expresses a new meaning, viz. ‘former, ex-’, loses its inflection and presents a high degree of productivity in word formations such as oud-burgemeester ‘former mayor’, oud-leerling ‘former pupil’, etc. (Booij 2005b: 85-88; Van Goethem 2009). Adjectives may be used as ‘suffixoids’ (cf. Marchand 1969) in Germanic languages: cf. English joyful, German freudvoll, Dutch vreugdevol. Many Dutch adjectives are subjected to this suffixization process: -arm ‘poor’ (e.g. caloriearm ‘low in calories’), -rijk ‘rich’ (e.g. energierijk ‘energy-rich’), -vriendelijk ‘friendly’ (e.g. vrouwvriendelijk ‘well disposed towards women’), -vrij ‘free’ (e.g. autovrij ‘forbidden for cars, carless’), etc. (cf. Booij 2005a: 115). However, this possibility is not exploited in French morphology. In this research, the possibilities and restrictions on these affixization processes in French and Dutch will be investigated more into depth. For each language, the function of the grammaticalizing adjectives will be determined on the basis of criteria (such as productivity, resemanticization, decategorization and paradigmatization) that will allow us to identify true affixal uses and to distinguish them from merely productive constructional patterns. The dissimilarities in productivity and degree of grammaticalization between both languages will be related to typological differences in word order and word structure (French Head-Modifier vs Dutch Modifier-Head). References Amiot, D. 2004. « Préfixes ou prépositions? Le cas de sur-, sans-, contre- et les autres ». In : D. Corbin, P. Corbin & M. Temple (eds), Lexique 16. La formation des mots: horizons actuels. Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion. 67-83. Amiot, D. 2005. « Between compounding and derivation: Elements of word formation corresponding to prepositions ». In: W.U. Dressler, D. Kastovsky, O.E. Pfeiffer & F. Rainer (eds), Morphology and its Demarcations. Selected Papers from the 11th Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2004. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 183-195. Booij, G. 2005a. « Compounding and derivation: evidence for Construction Morphology ». In: W.U. Dressler, D. Kastovsky, O.E. Pfeiffer & F. Rainer (eds), Morphology and its Demarcations. Selected Papers from the 11th Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2004. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 109-132. Booij, G. 2005b. The Grammar of Words (Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Booij, G., 2008. « Composition et morphologie des constructions », in D. Amiot (ed.), La composition dans une perspective typologique. Arras: Artois Presses Université. 49-73. Corbin, D. 2001. « Préfixes et suffixes: du sens aux catégories ». Journal of French Language Studies 11: 41-69. Kühnhold, I. – Putzer, O. – Wellmann, H. 1978. Deutche Wortbildung, Vol. III: Das Adjektiv. Düsseldorf: Schwann. Lehmann, C. 1995. Thoughts on Grammaticalization. München: Lincom Europa. Marchand, H. 1969. The Categories and Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation. A Synchronic-Diachronic Approach. 2nd ed. München: Beck. Marchello-Nizia, C. 2006. Grammaticalisation et changement linguistique (Champs linguistiques). Bruxelles: De Boeck. Ten Hacken, P. 2000. « Derivation and compounding ». In G. Booij, C. Lehmann, J. Mugdan & S. Skopeteas (eds), Morphologie/ Morphology. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Flexion und Wortbildung/ An International Handbook on Inflection and Word Formation, Vol. 1. Berlin: de Gruyter. 349-360. Van Goethem, K. & Amiot, D. 2009. « Affixization processes in French and Dutch ». Paper presented at the Seventh Mediterranean Morphology Meeting (University of Nicosia, Cyprus, 10-13 September 2009). Van Goethem, K. 2006. La grammaticalisation comme paramètre en linguistique comparative. Le cas de l’emploi préverbal des prépositions du français et du néerlandais. PhD Thesis. KULeuven, Subfaculteit Taalkunde. Van Goethem, K. 2008. « Oud-leerling versus ancien élève: A Comparative Study of Adjectives Grammaticalizing into Prefixes in Dutch and French ». Morphology 18. 27-49.
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Van Goethem, K. (2010). From adjective to prefix. The influence of word order patterns on grammaticalization. International Morphology Meeting 14, Budapest, Hongrie. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/163062