Prefixation in English and Catalan - Departament de Filologia ...

the GDLC and DLC, have the same meaning as the prefixed Vs. The two groups
include location and locatum Vs, Vs that can have the two readings and Vs of creation
(see Appendix B, section of denominal Vs). Whereas the first group does not pose a
problem to my analysis, the second one does.
As for the first three types of Vs in the first group (i.e. location and locatum
Vs, and Vs that can be interpreted either way), the locative meaning is associated with
the prefixed V, in agreement with my analysis, according to which the prefix en- with
the features [-c-m] contributes to such meaning. Compare caminarV ‘to walk’ with
encaminarV ‘to put someboby in the correct path’. 22 Regarding Vs of creation, no
locative reading is involved, so whether the prefix is present or absent is irrelevant.
Regarding the second group, the GDLC and DLC define some intermediate
Vs as having the same meaning as their prefixed version. Here are included the Vs with
a locative reading, i.e. location and locatum Vs, and those Vs that can have the two
readings. All these intermediate forms with a locative meaning question my analysis,
since there is no source for the [-c-m] role, due to the absence of the prefix. However,
once speakers have been consulted, matters become easier. Speakers do not use any of
the two forms, namely the prefixed and unprefixed forms (probably because they belong
to Old Catalan or to a very specific field like farming in the following examples:
cabestreN ‘halter’ → cabestrarV → encabestrarV ‘to put a halter on’ in the two Vs) or
they uniformly use the prefixed version. For instance, speakers will use ensulfatarV
rather than sulfatarV (