Recommended Literature:

1. Арнольд И.В. Лексикология современного английского языка. = The English Word [Текст]: Учебн. для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. 3-е изд., перераб. и доп. / И.В. Арнольд. – М.: Высшая школа,1986. – p.87 – 107.

2. Гинзбург, Р.З. Лексикология английского языка [Текст]: Учебн для ин-тов и фак.

иностр. яз. / Р.З. Гинзбург, С.С. Хидекель, Г.Ю. Князева и др.– М : Высшая школа,

1979. – p.95 – 107.

3.Антрушина Г.Б. Лексикология английского языка = English Lexicology [Текст]: Учеб. для студ. пед.ин-тов по спец. №.2103 «Иностр. яз.» /Г.Б. Антрушина, О.В. Афанасьева, Н.Н. Морозова – 3-е изд. стереотипн. – М.: Дрофа, 2001 – с. 59 – 66.

4. Арбекова Т.И. Лексикология английского языка (практический курс) .= The English Word[Текст]. Учебное пособие для студентов 2-3 курсов институтов и факультетов иностранных языков./ Т.И. Арбекова. – М.: Высшая школа, 1977 – М.: Просвещение, 1984. – с.7 – 20.

5. Смирницкий А.И. Лексикология английского языка [Текст] / А.И. Смирницкий – М.: Изд-во МГУ им. М.В.Ломоносова, 1998..– с. 64 – 70.

Lecture 10. Conversion

1. Introduction.

2. Diachronic Approach to Conversion.

3. Conversion in Present-Day English

4. Typical Semantic Relation in Conversion.

5. Conversion and Other Types of Word-Formation

Various opinions have been expressed on the nature and character of conversion in the English language and different conceptions of conversion have been put forward. As a type of word-formation, conversion exists in many languages. What is specific for the English vocabulary is not its mere presence, but its intense development.

The causes that made conversion so widely spread in English are to be approached diachronically. Nouns and verbs have become identical in form firstly as a result of the lost of endings. When endings had disappeared phonetic development resulted in the merging of sound forms for both elements of the pairs of words.

From the diachronic point of view the distinction should be made between homonymous word-pairs which appeared as a result of the loss of inflections and those formed by conversion. There are different criteria of differentiating between the source of homonymy and the derived word in a conversion pair.

Nowadays conversion is universally accepted as one of the major ways of enriching English vocabulary with new words. It is highly productive in replenishing the English word-stock with new words. The main reason for the widespread development of conversion in present-day English is the absence of morphological elements serving as classifying signals or formal signs marking the part of speech to which the word belongs. Another reason is the analytical character of the English language.

There are different types of semantic relations in conversion according to the part of speech and secondary word classes involved in the process in Modern English. Though a word made by conversion has a different meaning from that of the word from which it was made the two meanings may be associated. There are certain regularities in these associations. It is a well-known fact that the most frequent types of conversion are those formed from noun to verb, from verb to noun and from adjective to noun and to verb.

Conversion may be combined with other word-building processes, such as derivation and composition. Like other words creating a vivid image they often receive a permanent metaphorical meaning. Conversion is one of specific features of English word-formation.