On (apparently) synonymous affixes : a contrastive analysis of Catalan "des-" and "es-"

Altres ajuts: This research has been supported by the fellowships Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación IJC2020-042785-I (MCIN / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033 and NextGenerationEU/PRTR) and Juan de la Cierva-Formación FJC2018-035901-I (MICIU / AEI), by the project FFI2016-80142-P (MINECO, Spanish Government) and by the grant 2021PFR-URV-72 (URV Program for Fostering Research).It is commonly assumed that the Catalan prefixes des- and es- are synonymous, since they can be found attached to the same base in change of state verbs with an apparently identical meaning; cf. desgranar and esgranar 'to extract the grain'. The aim of this paper is to show that these two prefixes are non-trivially different, as suggested by the fact that only the latter, but not the former, is attested with an ingressive (or Goal-oriented) meaning; cf. estovar 'to soften'. Following a nanosyntactic approach to grammar, I claim that the trees lexicalized by des- and es- are not composed of the same morphosyntactic features, which accounts for their different morphosyntactic behaviour as well as for their semantic contrasts. It is proposed that des- lexicalizes a Source Path, whereas es- lexicalizes a Goal Path in addition to a root node. The paper is also a contribution to the long-standing debate of how morphemes with similar meanings compete for insertion.Se sol assumir que els prefixos catalans des- i es- són sinònims, ja que es poden trobar adjuntats a la mateixa base en verbs de canvi d'estat amb un significat aparentment idèntic; cf. desgranar i esgranar. L'objectiu d'aquest article és mostrar que els dos prefixos esmentats són crucialment diferents, com suggereix el fet que només el darrer, però no el primer, pugui utilitzar-se amb un valor ingressiu (orientat a la Meta); cf. estovar. Seguint una aproximació nanosintàctica a l'anàlisi gramatical, defensem que els arbres lexicalitzats per des- i per es- no compten amb els mateixos trets sintàctics, cosa que explica les diferències observades en el seu comportament morfosintàctic, així com els seus contrastos semàntics. Es proposa que des- lexicalitza una Trajectòria d'Origen, mentre que es- lexicalitza una Trajectòria de Meta a més d'una arrel. L'article també és una contribució al debat sobre com els morfemes amb valors semblants competeixen entre ells per a la inserció

Polisèmia del nom punta i els seus derivats verbals: Una comparativa històrica entre el castellà i el català

This study presents a comparative analysis of the semantic evolution of the noun punta and its verbal derivatives in both Catalan and Spanish: apuntar (Cat. / Sp.), despuntar (Cat. / Sp.), espuntar (Cat.), traspuntar (Cat. / Sp.), puntejar (Cat.) and puntear (Sp.). The Generative Lexicon framework (Pustejovsky 1995) is adopted, which allows examining the processes that intervene in the emergence of words’ new senses from a sub-lexical and compositional standpoint. It is demonstrated that the semantic changes and extensions undergone by punta and its verbal derivatives throughout the history can be accounted for by means of a series of generative devices that operate when these terms are used in context.

Deriving ablative, privative, and reversative meanings in Catalan and Spanish

The most productive way to encode ablative, privative, and reversative meanings in current Catalan and Spanish is by means of des- prefixation. This paper investigates how these related values are obtained both from a structural and from a conceptual perspective. To analyze the structural behaviour of these predicates, a new neo-constructionist model is adopted: Nanosyntax, according to which lexical items are syntactic constructs. As for the conceptual content associated to these verbs, it is accounted for by means of a non-canonical approach to the Generative Lexicon Theory developed by Pustejovsky (1995 ff.).The core proposal is that des- prefixed verbs with an ablative, a privative, or a reversative meaning share the same syntactic structure, and that the different interpretation of each semantic class emerges as a consequence of the interactions generated, at a conceptual level, between the Qualia Structure of the verbal root and that of the internal argument of the verb

Spanish adjectival passives with a progressive reading

This paper addresses Spanish adjectival passives with estar showing a progressive reading. In the previous literature, it has been acknowledged that the participles of verbs encoding non-dynamic events, such as vigilar ‘guard’, give rise to a progressive reading when embedded in adjectival passives. Yet, we have identified another group of verbs, those of the type of perseguir ‘chase’, which denote dynamic atelic events (i.e., activities) and whose participles are also attested in estar-passives with a progressive denotation. This is a very significant finding, since it is commonly assumed that only participles of verbs including a stative component in their event structure (i.e., telic or stative verbs) can be part of adjectival passives. After comparing the behaviour of these two types of verbs, we propose that they share a relational layer that in the case of vigilar-verbs defines an event as non-dynamic and in the case of perseguir-verbs defines a motion event as continuously maintained. This relational layer, which constitutes the stative component needed for the adjectival passive construction to be possible, accounts for the necessary atelicity of these two verbal classes (which cannot be telicized under any circumstances) and for the progressive reading obtained in their adjectival passives

Revisiting -ej(ar) verbs in Catalan: Argument and event structure

We explore the properties of the Catalan verbalizing suffix -ej(ar), centering on intransitive verbs. After presenting the rich variety of outputs that this suffix allows, we focus on two generalizations. The first one has to do with the consistent eventive nature of verbs derived with this suffix, even from bases that count as individual-level predicates, like colour adjectives or proper names. Importantly, their eventivity is orthogonal to their dynamic/non-dynamic status. The second one is the robust unergative status of intransitive -ej(ar) vebs. We show that previous work on -ej(ar) has failed to capture these two properties. Adopting a Ramchandian, nanosyntactic perspective, we propose that this suffix is the spellout of the subeventive structure of a caused process, i.e., the heads Init and Proc. The (non-)dynamic interpretation of the verbs is claimed to emerge from interactions among the contents of the roots involved in the predicate, at the conceptual, non-grammatical level. We finally extend the proposed analysis to account for the behaviour of transitive -ej(ar) verbs

Comparing carbonate and organic AMS- (super 14) C ages in Lake Abiyata sediments (Ethiopia); hydrochemistry and paleoenvironmental implications.

Le Laboratoire de Géologie de la Matière Organique est intégré dans l'Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - ISTO - CNRS Université d'OrléansWe studied a 12.6-m-long sequence from Lake Abiyata (Central Ethiopia) to establish a reliable and accurate chronology for use in global paleoclimatic reconstructions. The 26 accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) ages, performed on carbonates and organic matter, define 2 parallel chronologies, representing the complete Holocene period. However, these chronologies show a significant discrepancy from 500 to 900 BP in depth; ages obtained on carbonates were always older than those on organic matter. The hydrogeological and geochemical behavior of the Lake Abiyata basin has shed light on this discrepancy. We found that the carbonate crystallization is due mainly to the mixing of lake waters with groundwaters from the multi-layered aquifer contained in the 600-m-thick basement of the lake. The 14C activity of total dissolved inorganic carbon (TDIC) measured by AMS from bottom and surface lake waters (111.4 and 111.8 pMC, respectively) confirms that the mixing occurs at the water-sediment interface. This evidence of groundwater participation in the carbonate crystallization calls into question the current paleoclimatic reconstructions based on inorganic carbonates in lakes. Specific attention should thus be given to the respective proportions of each end-member in the mixing for the quantitative estimation of the groundwater input. This will help to validate the paleoenvironmental reconstructions and to highlight an eventual diagenetical evolution of inorganic carbonates during burial, via the study of pore waters

A 36 ka environmental record in the southern tropics : Lake Tritrivakely (Madgascar) (Un enregistrement de l'environnement depuis 36 ka en zone tropicale sud : le lac Tritrivakely (Madagascar)).

The upper 13 m of a 40 m-long sedimentary profile core taken in a crater lake on the Malagasy Plateau reveals 36,000 yrs of hydroclimatic evolution. A shallow lake occupies the core site from ≃35 to ≃19 ka BP under climatic conditions cooler than today. The water table is very low and biological productivity extremely reduced during the Last Glacial Maximum. A large warming was initiated at ≃14.5 ka BP. The modern bog establishes about 4 ka ag

The Ponto-Caspian basin as a final trap for southeastern Scandinavian Ice-Sheet meltwater

This paper provides new data on the evolution of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea from the Last Glacial Maximum until ca. 12 cal kyr BP. We present new analyses (clay mineralogy, grain-size, Nd isotopes and pollen) applied to sediments from the river terraces in the lower Volga, from the middle Caspian Sea and from the western part of the Black Sea. The results show that during the last deglaciation, the Ponto-Caspian basin collected meltwater and fine-grained sediment from the southern margin of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) via the Dniepr and Volga Rivers. It induced the deposition of characteristic red-brownish/chocolate-coloured illite-rich sediments (Red Layers in the Black Sea and Chocolate Clays in the Caspian Sea) that originated from the Baltic Shield area according to Nd data. This general evolution, common to both seas was nevertheless differentiated over time due to the specificities of their catchment areas and due to the movement of the southern margin of the SIS. Our results indicate that in the eastern part of the East European Plain, the meltwater from the SIS margin supplied the Caspian Sea during the deglaciation until ∼13.8 cal kyr BP, and possibly from the LGM. That led to the Early Khvalynian transgressive stage(s) and Chocolate Clays deposition in the now-emerged northern flat part of the Caspian Sea (river terraces in the modern lower Volga) and in its middle basin. In the western part of the East European Plain, our results confirm the release of meltwater from the SIS margin into the Black Sea that occurred between 17.2 and 15.7 cal kyr BP, as previously proposed. Indeed, recent findings concerning the evolution of the southern margin of the SIS and the Black Sea, show that during the last deglaciation, occurred a westward release of meltwater into the North Atlantic (between ca. 20 and 16.7 cal kyr BP), and a southward one into the Black Sea (between 17.2 and 15.7 cal kyr BP). After the Red Layers/Chocolate Clays deposition in both seas and until 12 cal kyr BP, smectite became the dominant clay mineral. The East European Plain is clearly identified as the source for smectite in the Caspian Sea sediments. In the Black Sea, smectite originated either from the East European Plain or from the Danube River catchment. Previous studies consider smectite as being only of Anatolian origin. However, our results highlight both, the European source for smectite and the impact of this source on the depositional environment of the Black Sea during considered period

Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion