PREFIX COMBINATION IN MEDIEVAL SPANISH

Abstract

The aim of this article is to describe the combination of prefixes in 13th-16th century Spanish, through an analysis of prefixed words derived from a textual corpus representative of this linguistic macrosystem in its archaic temporal arc. What is called here of prefixal superposition or superprefixation, as the terms themselves suggest, consists in the addition of a prefix to an already prefixed word, such as arredondear (a(d)- + re-), desenchufar (des- + en-) and reconfirmación (re- + con-). Although present in the vernacular since its beginnings (indeed, something that already occurs in the Latin language), the combination of prefixes has been little explored in the Romance languages and their genolexical matrix. A few descriptive-commentaries will be presentedanalysis on the configuration of the phenomenon in the cut-off period, based on the observation of the combinatorial molds between the involved formatives, with the identification of those prefixal units that lend themselves to this operation, who have greater generating capacity and in which position they normally appear. The proposal is based on the theoretical-epistemological ballast of the fundamental premises of historical morphology, in an epistemological vision committed to the linguistic fact, with the appreciation of the empirical data and with the consideration of the evident diachronic factor of the language, relying on an intersection between information of historical nature and a systemic look at morphological processes.