NOTES ON THE 'CONVERSION' OF NOUNS INTO VERBS IN ENGLISH,
Abstract
The 'conversion' of nouns into verbs in English is viewed as a transformational operation or set of operations, mapping a specific sense of a basal noun into a specific sense of the derivative verb. Thus, each sense of a derivative verb has a different derivational history from each other sense of that verb. Examples analyzed are zero-affixal derivatives, e.g., to can, to wax, but in all cases affixally marked conversions show parallels to the zero-affixal ones. Analysis of a multiple-sense entry from Webster's Seventh Collegiate Dictionary, for spot v.t., shows that while some of its senses, e.g., 'to detect or notice,' are only diachronically related to senses of its basal noun, all the derivative senses are derivable from the basal senses in some way. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 15, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0686571
Entities
People
- Carter C. Revard
Organizations
- System Development Corporation