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Lecture 7.

Conversion. Word composition. Shortening and minor ways of word-formation.

1. Conversion.

2. Compounds and free word-groups.

3. Classification of compounds.

4. Shortening. Types of shortening.

1. Conversion.

   Conversion, one of the principal ways of forming words in Modern English, is highly productive in replenishing the English word-stock with new words. The term “conversion” refers to the numerous cases of phonetic identity of two words belonging to different parts of speech. As a rule we deal with root-words, although there are exceptions. This phenomenon may be illustrated by the following cases: work – to work, love – to love, paper – to paper, brief – to brief, wireless – to wireless, etc.

It is fairly obvious that in the case of a noun and a verb not only are the so-called initial forms (i.e. the infinitive and the common case singular) phonetically identical, but all the other noun forms have their homonyms within the verb paradigm, cf. my work—I work, public works—he works; my dog-I dog, the dog's head—many dogs—he dogs, etc.

It is necessary to call attention to the fact that the para­digm plays significant role in the process of word-formation in general and not only in the case of conversion. Thus, the noun cooker (cf. gas-cooker) is formed from the verb to cook not only by the addition of the suffix -er, but also by the change in its paradigm. As the paradigm is a morphological category, conversion can be described as a mor­phological way of forming words.

Synchronically we deal with pairs of words related through conversion that co-exist in contemporary English. As one of the two words within a conver­sion pair is semantically derived from the other, it is of great theoretical and practical importance to determine the semantic relations between words related through conversion. Summing up the findings of the linguists who have done research in this field we can enu­merate the following typical semantic relations.

I. Verbs converted from nouns (denominal verbs).

This is the largest group of words related through conver­sion. The semantic relations between the nouns and verbs vary greatly. If the noun refers to some object of reality (both animate and in animate), the converted verb may de­note:

l) action characteristic of the object, e.g. ape n —ape v— 'imitate in a foolish way'; butcher n—butcher v—'kill ani­mals for food, cut up a killed animal';

2) instrumental use of the object, e.g. screw n—screw v—'fasten with a screw'; whip n—whip v—'strike with a whip';

3) acquisition or addition of the object, e.g. fish n—fish v—'catch or try to catch fish'; coat n—'covering of paint'— coat v—put a coat of paint on';

4) deprivation of the object, e.g. dust n—dust v—'remove dust from something'; skin n—skin v—'strip off the skin from'; etc.

II. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal substantives). The verb generally referring to an action, the converted noun may denote:

1) instance of the action, e.g. jump v—jump n—'sudden spring from the ground'; move v—move n—‘a change of posi­tion';

2) agent of the action, e.g. help v—help n—-'a person who helps'; switch v—'make or break an electric circuit'—switch n—'a device for making or breaking an electric circuit';

3) place of the action, e.g. drive v — drive n — ‘a path or road along which one drives'; walk v—walk n—‘a place for walking';

4) object or result of the action, e.g. peel v—peel n— ‘the outer skin of fruit or potatoes taken off; find v—find n—‘something found, esp. something valuable or pleasant’; etc.

These are the most frequent types of conversion.

There are cases of conversion of adjectives into nouns (substantivation of adjectives).Here we must distinguish full and partial substantivation. Full substantivation is when the adjective becomes the noun and possesses all its categories: relative a – relative n, criminal a – criminal n. Partial substantivation – when the adjective have only some features of the noun. It may be used with the article the without any endings in the plural: old – the old, young – the young.