*change* + preposition (was: change > change out)

[Lesa Dill]

I wonder if the meanings of "change" (change as in money) is prompting
the added  "up" for clarification.  "I'll change some money" wouldn't
work, would it?  It would have to be "exchange".  Prefixes becoming
particles is common.  Could "change out" and "change up" could both be
used  with the same meaning in your example?

Damien Hall wrote:

>This may well just be coincidental, but (also anecdotally) I have noticed
>another, well, change going on with *change*, in some people's BrEng at least:
>
>*change* > *change up*
>
>as in
>
>'I haven't got any Euros at the moment, but I suppose I'll change some money up
>on the boat'
>
>(said just before a trip from England to France on the ferry.  Intonation made
>it clear that this was a phrasal verb *change up* + PP *on the boat*, not
>simplex *change* + PP *on the boat*;  it's actually difficult to find examples
>that are disambiguated by not being followed by a PP, since it seems that
>*change up* is for money only, and you have to do that somewhere.)
>
>It's a subject of indignation in a way similar to Jim's, at least for my sister,
>whose boyfriend it is who says this, causing her to rant that there's no reason
>for the *up* and it should just be *change*.  But my casual impression is that
>I've heard it from others too.  I suspect that there are contexts in which
>*change up* is already part of the 'standard' lexicon (apart from gears, which
>can be but aren't always changed up), but I can't come up with any.
>
>So this just adds to Jim's question.  I am hearing *change up* where I would
>expect *change*.  Is there something about *change* that invites its
>specification by a preposition in general, in the way that Doug indicated for
>*change out* in particular?  That seemed to me a good explanation for *change
>out* and it would be nice if it could be generalised.
>
>Damien Hall
>University of Pennsylvania
>
>