Norm and lexicosemantic change: the case of «desenvolupar»

Abstract

To what extent the codification process initiated by Pompeu Fabra at the beginning of the 20th century has influenced the Catalan language and, more specifically, the contemporary catalan lexicon? This is the question that moved us to design a research project focused on analyzing the repercussion of the standardization process on the evolution of contemporary Catalan. On this occasion, we will focus on the case of desenvolupar (and the derivative desenvolupament) and envolupar. We describe and examine the history and semantic structure of both verbs. The recovery of desenvolupar and the creation of desenvolupament with new meanings by Catalan normative model obey to cover expressive needs of society of the 20th century. They represent a handful of words recovered from the ancient language after having fallen into disuse or even without having had much root. The case of the verb desenvolupar and the derivative desenvolupament can be seen as a success story.