Deconstructing OUT-prefixation

Abstract This paper takes a construction morphological approach to the word formation process of OUT-prefixation, based on a corpus study using the Collins Word Banks Online corpus. It distinguishes two distinct constructions: spatial OUT-prefixation, conveying movement “outside”, and comparative OUT-prefixation, used for scaling dimensions. These constructions are characterised by their own semantic and morphosyntactic properties, including differences in compositionality, argument structure, applicative potential, and event structure. While the base remains active in an OUT-verb, each construction functions as a constructional idiom at the word level, integrating the fixed prefix OUT- into a higher-level schema with predictable properties and constraints. The study challenges formal approaches by demonstrating that OUT-prefixation is more productive than previously assumed, particularly through coercion effects. Although the comparative construction is shown to be more productive, the spatial construction is more conventionalized but still capable of generating emergent patterns, illustrating the productivity and flexibility of these constructions.