It’s Better To Do It Over Than Overdo It: Polysemous Prefixes And Particles
It’s Better To Do It Over Than Overdo It: Polysemous Prefixes And Particles

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyze particles in phrasal verbs, namely over, and to show that these particles are cognate both to prepositions and prefixes used for word formation. We provide evidence from polysemy – the case where a lexical item has a number of related senses. We also use cognate words9, such as the spatial particle over and the prefix over-, to flow over and to overflow, to turn over and to overturn, etc. We aim to reveal that there are principles relating the different senses of one lexical item. What is more, the same principles apply to relating the senses of cognate lexical items. Finding such general principles helps turning theoretical linguistics in scientific enterprise.

• Details
• Contents