Lec tu re V

Co nv er sio n
N on -p r od ve
u c ti
wo rd - b ui ld i n g
pa tte rn s
 Conversion ( Zero-derivation)
is a word-building pattern in
which a word is produced by
means of shift into another part
of speech.

Conversion The initial form is not altered.

The semantic structure , the
formal paradigm, the syntactic
function and word valency are
changed.
 Conversion is highly productive pattern
in English due to:

Analytical structure of Modern English

Simplicity of paradigms of English parts of speech

A great number of monosyllabic words

 Historical development of conversion:

OE ME
drinkan v drink v,n
drinca, drinc n
OE ME
lufian v love v, n
lufu n

OE ME
andswarian v answer v, n
andswaru n

OFr ME
crier v cry v, n
cri n
 Substantive
paradigm
-s , pl
-‘s, possessive case,
singular
Paradigm is -s’, possessive case,
plural
the system of
grammatical
forms Adjective
paradigm
Verbal
paradigm
characteristic -er, comparative -s, 3rd p. singular
of a word. degree
-est, superlative
--ed, past indef., past
part.
degree -ing, pres.part.,
gerund

round (N) > to round (V) > round (Adj)

back (N) > to back (V) > back (Adj)
 Denominal verbs ( N > V)
Semantic relations:
• action characteristic of the object: butcher, n –
to butcher, v (kill animals for food);
dog, n – to dog, v (follow close behind as a dog does);
The most wolf, n – to wolf, v (devour food greedily)
frequ en t t y pe s • its instrumental use: whip, n. – to whip, v. (strike
of con ve rs io n: with a whip); knife, n. – knife, v. (kill with a knife);
• parts of the body: face n-to face v;hand n-to hand v
• locative meaning (places, buildings, containers) :
Denominal bag, n. – to bag, v. (put in a bag); garage, n. – to garage,
verbs (N>V) v. (put a car in the garage);
• time, weather conditions : “spend the time
indicated by the noun”: winter, n. – to winter, v.;
honeymoon, n.- to honeymoon, v.;
family relations: mother n - to mother v;
father n -to father v
 • acquisition or addition of the object: fish, n.
– to fish, v. (catch fish; try to get praise, attention
The most in an indirect way); coat, n. – to coat, v. (put a

freque nt t y pe s coat of paint on something)

• deprivation of the object: skin, n. – to skin, v.

of conv e rs io n: (strip off the skin from something/somebody); dust,

n – dust, v. (remove dust from something; to cover
with something). She dusted the furniture / She

D en o m in al dusted the cake with sugar.

ver bs (N >V ) phraseological units:

feather one’s nest – ‘make oneself rich,
especially dishonestly, through a job in which
one is trusted’;
fish in troubled waters – ‘try to gain advantage
out of other people’s troubles;
crow over – ‘take pride and gloat over the
misfortune of others’.
 Semantic relations:
instance of the action: glance, v. – glance, n.; push, v. –
push;
agent of the action: to draw, v. – draw, n. ; to sting, v.
– sting, n.; to scold, v. – scold, n. (a scolding woman); to
pry, v. – pry, n. (a prying person);
the place of the action: to bend, v. – bend, n.; to drive, v.
– drive, n.;
Deverbal an object or result of the action: to peel, v. – peel, n. (the
Substantives outer skin of fruit or potatoes); to catch, v. – catch, n. (that
V>N: which is caught or taken);
parts of verbal phrases: V > N
have/take/give/make + N:
have a bite/a smoke/a go;
take a look/a ride/a walk;
give a laugh/a cry/a whistle;
make a move/a comment/a remark;
 phraseological units :
- used with the indefinite article: be in a hurry, be in
a flutter, make a go of something, make a hit with
somebody;
- used with the definite article: be in the know, be on
the go, be in the swim, give somebody the push, give
Deverbal somebody the go-by,

Substantives - without any article: be in touch, be out of touch, keep

(V > N): watch.

- in the plural form: kick against the pricks, to give
somebody the shivers, have two bites of the cherry.
 Composition:
Attributive phrases > Verbs:
black ball > to blackball,
black list > to blacklist,

Co n v e r s io n a n d pin point > to pinpoint,

high heel > to high-heel (to be high-heeled)

ot he r ty pe s of ear- ring > to ear-ring (to be ear-ringed)

photobomb > to photobomb

wo rd -f o r m a tio n : Nonce-words, or occasional words:

an also-run, a has-been, do’s and don’ts,
how-tos, the ups and downs, the ins and

Divaetironialvafafixteis:oe.ng.
outs, Don’t my-dear me. He madamed
everybody. I don't believe in isms.
der ( t o The crowd oooohed and aaaaahed...
view, n – v
watch te
i
le
e
v
w
i s
,
i o
v
n ) → Phrasal verbs (verb-adverb combinations):
to break down – a breakdown;
– viewer –
viewable to hand out – a handout,
to black out – a blackout,
viewing.
drop out – a dropout,
hang over- a hangover
 Soon as you say
“My child would never”
Here they come
nevering like they never
nevered before
 change of state, e.g. to blind, to
Verbs Converted calm, to empty, to pale, to cool, to grey
from Adjectives -intransitively mean ‘become blind,

(Adj > V) calm, empty’;

- transitive verbs they mean ‘make
somebody blind, calm, empty’
Substantivation
(Adj > N)
Complete substantivation

The process when Partial substantivation

adjectives acquire the
paradigm and syntactical
functions of nouns is
called substantivation.
 Completely
substantivized words
function as nouns:

Newly coined words:

a creative, a crazy, a nasty
PLURAL POSSESSIVE
FORM CASE

private – the private‘s uniform, a

group of privates;
captive, conservative, criminal, male,
female, grownup, native, relative,
fugitive, ritual
Partially substantivized adjectives:
denote a group or a class of people
undergo no morphological changes
are only used with the definite article having a collective meaning:
the blind, the quick and the dead, the poor, the rich, the living, the English,
the unemployed, "The Beautiful and Damned” by F.S.Fitzgerald

Substantivized adjectives denoting abstract nouns, including linguistic terms:

e. g. the impossible, the inevitable, the Good, the Evil, the Present, the Plural.

Phraseological units: be in the dark; out of the blue; cut somebody to the quick; in
the dead of night
Sound interchange

Change of stress
Non-productive
word-building
Back-formation (Back
Derivation) patterns
Blending (Telescoping)

Sound imitation (Onomatopoeia)

 Sound interchange Sound
is a word building interchange
pattern in which a
word was coined by
means of alteration
of vowels and Vowel Consonant Vowel
consonants interchange interchange +Consonant
(sometimes both). interchange
blood- to bleed use – to use,
strong-strength house- to house, bath – to bathe,
rise-raise advice - to breath –to
lie-lay advise breathe, life –
swim-swam-swum to speak – speech, to live
sing -song to break - breach
tell-tale
 Change of stress is a word building pattern in
which a word was formed by means of change of
stress position
^export – to ex^port , ^import – to im^port , ^increase - to
in^crease, ^frequent - to fre^quent, ^conduct – to con^duct,
^permit – to per^mit, ^record - to re^cord
BUT: ^comment, ^preface, ^focus, ^process, e^xile
 Back-Formation (Back Derivation) is a word-building pattern in
which a verb is produced at the expense of clipping a suffix ( or what
is mistaken for a suffix) of a noun.

burglar - to burgle, editor – to edit, beggar - to beg, sculptor – to sculpt,

enthusiasm - to enthuse, option- to opt, television – to televise ;
blood-transfusion – to blood-transfuse, finger-printing - to finger-print,
baby-sitting – to baby-sit, brain-washing – to brainwash
 Building pattern in which a word is formed from parts of two
words
breakfast+lunch = brunch
motor+hotel= motel
fruit + juice= fruice
frozen+yougurt= froyo
biography+picture= biopic
fantastic+fabulous= fantabulous
hungry+angry= hangry
international+network= internet
education+entertaiment= edutainment
stay+vacation= staycation
Covid+ idiot = Covidiot (Covexit, Covidient, Covidism)
Trump+economics= Trumponomics
 Sound imitation (Onomatopoeia or echoism) is a
word-building pattern in which a word is formed from
speech sounds imitating the sounds of extralinguistic
reality.

Human: babble, chatter, giggle, grunt, grumble, murmur,

mutter, titter, whine, whisper
Animal: buzz, croak, hiss, howl, moo, mew, neigh, purr, roar
Water: babble, blob, bubble, gurgle, gush, flush, splash
Metal: clink, tinkle, clash, crash, whack, whip, whisk