Le préfixe  maxi- et sa diffusion actuelle dans le français courant

Abstrakt

The prefix maxi- and its current diffusion in contemporary French

The article presents an analysis of words prefixed with maxi- in contemporary French. We tried to describe the morphologic behaviour of this prefix and its semantic value, where it works as a feature intensifier. Focus was put on the productivity and vitality of the prefix.
The maxi- prefix appeared in French in the 70s. It entered the language through fashion clothing. Then its use spread widely, mainly thanks to advertising. Currently it appears in several fields other than fashion, including description of cosmetics, household appliances, transportation and tourism. It can be found in the naming of companies, products, website addresses, etc. It is also used by many French in everyday language, e.g. in internet blogs. Dictionaries give only a few examples
of its use, mainly in the language of fashion, which does not cover all possible potential combinations of maxi-, mainly with nouns and adjectives.