Grammaticalization of prepositions into prefixes

The central aim of my presentation is to study the relationship between prepositions and their prefixal counterparts in French and Dutch. In line with the studies by Amiot (2004, 2005) and by Blom (2005) among others, I claim that prepositions can undergo a grammaticalization process and this way develop into prefixes. This "prefixization" process can be described on the basis of several parameters. Contrary to prepositions, which prototypically interact with two syntactic arguments, assuming the semantic roles of trajector and landmark (e.g. Le livre est sur la table 'the book is on the table'), prefixes have scope only over the stem to which they are bound (e.g. suralimenter 'to overfeed'). Moreover, this functional opposition correlates with semantic differences: whereas prepositions are characterized by (spatial, temporal or metaphorical) relational semantics (e.g. expressing the "spatial superiority" of the trajector in relation to the landmark), a prefix often expresses aspectual and evaluative meanings (e.g. "excess" in suralimenter). In my PhD research (Van Goethem 2006) I studied the relationship between prepositions and their preverbal counterparts. This study revealed that in some cases the preverb maintains a prepositional function and meaning (e.g. L'avion survole les iles Baleares 'The plane is flying over the Balearic Islands'), while in others it acts as a true prefix (e.g. Il a surestime ses forces 'He has overestimated his forces') and can be considered more grammaticalized. Dutch data revealed a third construction type: Dutch preverbs often derive from predicative adverbs with a formal prepositional counterpart (e.g. de soep opeten [literally] 'to eat up the soup') (cf. Blom 2005), a preverbal construction that does not exist in French. In my contribution, I would like to extend the analysis to nouns and adjectives beginning with an element corresponding to a preposition. The French preposition sur 'on, upon; over' and its Dutch counterparts op 'on, upon' and over 'over' will be taken as a case study. In order to study the degree of grammaticalization of sur-, op- and over-, I will analyze the morpho-syntactic behaviour and the semantics of these morphemes in a large inventory of words. The translation of the words beginning with sur-, op- and over- will also be taken into account. The comparison of French and Dutch data will allow to explore the typological differences between French and Dutch word structure and their impact on the grammaticalization of prepositions into prefixes. References AMIOT, D. 2004. "Prefixes ou prepositions? Le cas de sur-, sans-, contre- et les autres". Lexique 16. La formation des mots: horizons actuels. 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 et F. Rainer (eds), Morphology and its Demarcations. Selected Papers from the 11th Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2004. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 183-195. BLOM, C. 2005. Complex Predicates in Dutch. Synchrony and Diachrony. PhD thesis. Amsterdam: Landelijke Onderzoekschool Taalwetenschap. VAN GOETHEM, K. 2006. La grammaticalisation comme parametre en linguistique comparative. Le cas de l'emploi preverbal des prepositions du francais et du neerlandais. PhD thesis. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Subfaculteit Taalkunde.