El inventario de los prefijos del español en la GDLE (1999) y en la NGRAE (2009)

The article examines and compares the inventory of prefixes in the last two representative grammars of Spanish: the Descriptive Grammar of the Spanish Language (GDLE 1999) and the New Grammar of the Spanish Language (NGRAE 2009). The RAE's new grammar (NGRAE) clearly maintains continuity with the GDLE, but without adopting mechanically all the supposedly prefixal elements included in the chapter "The prefixation" of the GDLE: some of them (e.g. recién, medio) are subject to a detailed analysis before being accepted or rejected by the RAE, other (todo-, fuera-) are excluded without any explanation. The NGRAE also introduces some interesting and important changes: a) the new distinction of the separable prefixes; b) the inclusion of the prefixes of size in the category of prefixal elements with adjective function; c) the fragmentation of the group of negative prefixes in two different categories; and d) the addition, into various notional fields, of some new prefixes with low neological productivity (e.g. inter-, pro- or co- with temporal meaning) or otherwise problematic elements (proto-, para-, super-, hiper- as "prefijos adjetivales", i.e. prefixal elements with adjective function).