§2. Conversion

Conversion is transferring a word from one part of speech to another without the use of an affix.

This way of building new words is most typical of English as compared with Russian.

There may be various directions of conversion:

• a verb may come from a noun: to word, to bicycle, to gangster;

• a noun may come from a verb: a try, a drive, a drive-in; that’s a must;

• an adjective may be converted to a noun: a round, a monthly, the bitter;

• an adjective may be changed to a verb: to empty, to better, to calm down;

• adverb to noun: Yesterday was my birthday;

• a structural word may be converted to a noun: too many ifs and buts;

• affix to noun: “ologies” and “isms”;

• grammatical word to verb: to down tools; to up and do it.¹⁹⁰

Compound words and phrases may also be converted: to dog’s-ear - загибать уголки страниц; a would-be president – будущий президент; free-for-all - соревнования, дискуссия и т. п., в которых может участвовать любой; situps - приседания.

Root conversion takes place in Russian too, but it is not as characteristic there as it is in English, and is usually accompanied by other word building processes. For example, круглый (adj) – круг (n) – кругом (adv) – вокруг (prep) – округлять (v). In this case conversion is used along with stem reduction and affixation. Mostly, conversion in Russian is a process of changing noun to adverb: утром, шагом, осенью; adjective to noun (based on ellipsis): столовая, рабочий, учащиеся; participle to noun: раненный – раненый; noun to grammatical word: в связи с, в заключение, etc.

It should be kept in mind that not all the meanings of a word are carried through into the derivative form. Therefore, a translator should be careful about the equivalent. For example, the noun paper has several equivalents: бумага, газета, научная работа. However, the verb to paper refers only to the first of these, which is manifested in its collocation. Lecturers and editors may paper their rooms. – Преподаватели и редакторы могут оклеивать свои комнаты обоями. But they cannot *paper their audiences and readers.¹⁹¹The verb to paper has no equivalent correlating with the second and third meanings of the noun.

Converted words are often very expressive and metaphorical: Sweat beads her upper lip. (F. King) – Капельки пота выступают у нее на верхней губе. Therefore, this form of coinage is often used in conversation, fiction and journalism.

The converted words with metaphorical meaning may be translated with the help of a simile: What can you do with a woman who sits and sponges all day long? – Что поделаешь с женщиной, которая весь день только и сидит, напиваясь, как сапожник. Enjoy your food. Don’t just wolf it down.- Наслаждайся пищей. Не набрасывайся на нее, как волк.

Translating converted coinages requires addition and extension of the sentence elements which are able to explain the meaning of the English word: For the first ten years of their marriage, the Bacons had holidayed in Bournemouth, because Arnold’s parents had always done so. (J. Archer) – Первые десять лет совместной жизни супруги Бэйкон проводили отпуск в Борнмуте, поскольку там всегда раньше отдыхали родители Арнольда.

Substituting parts of speech and restructuring of the sentence are often typical of utterances with converted words: e.g., For those who still prefer the traditional ‘at home’ office party, there are a number of dos and don’ts. – Для тех, кто до сих пор предпочитает устраивать торжества “по-домашнему” на рабочем месте, следует напомнить несколько правил о том, что можно и чего нельзя делать.