Morphology Lecture Series XVII
Conversion refers to the word formation process whereby words belonging to one word class are created from an existing word belonging to another word class without changes to pronunciation or spelling. It is also called zero derivation. This is because nothing is added, nothing is taken away.
There are noun to verb, verb to noun, adjective to verb, adjective to adverb, etc. conversions. Let us examine some of these conversions as they occur in languages.
1. Noun to Verb Conversion
Noun to verb conversion, also refered to as verbification or verbbing is the process whereby nouns are converted to verbs without a change in the shape of the word.
It is the most productive conversion in English as most nouns can be converted to verbs. The following are a few examples in English.
1.Noun Verb
a. eye eye
b. pocket pocket
c. name name
d. toilet toilet
e. telephone telephone
f. butter butter
Some of these words are used in the following examples.
2.
a. I pocketed the money.
b. He named the child.
c. She eyed him.
d. He telephoned her.
e. She buttered the bread.
The words in italics are the verbs derived from nouns, pocket, name, eye and telephone. Data (3), taken from Don (2005) showcase instances of noun to verb conversions in Dutch.
3. Noun gloss Verb gloss
a. koffie ‘coffe’ koffie-en ‘to drink coffe’
b. kano ‘canoe’ kano-en ‘to canoe’
c. taxi ‘taxi’ taxi-en ‘to go by taxi’
d. pot ‘pot’ pot-en ‘to pot’
e. kuil ‘pit’ kuil-en ‘to pit’
f. olie ‘oil’ olie-en ‘to oil’
g. kleed ‘garment’ kleed-en ‘to dress’
From the data above, we notice that Dutch verbs have phonological constraints.
They require affixal ending –en which is added as a suffix as indicated in data (3). Dutch and other Germanic languages have word-class specific suffixes.
2. Verb to Noun Conversion
This process refers to the conversion of verbs to nouns. This is exemplified in (4) below.
4. Verb Noun
a. talk talk
b. attack attack
c. alert alert
d. cover cover
e. call call
Example sentences are presented in (5).
5.
a. I talked the talk.
b. I just received the alert.
c. She made the call.
d. They had an attack.
These are sentences showing verbs converted to nouns in English. This process is also called nominalization.
3.
Adjective to Noun Conversion
Nouns are derived from adjectives through the process of conversion. For example.
6. Adjective Noun
a. crazy crazy
b. regular regular
c. final finals
7.
a. He featured in the finals.
b. She is one of the regulars at the club.
The data in (7) are example sentences showing adjectives converted to nouns in English language.
4.
Adjective to Verb and Adverb Conversion
This process refers to the conversion of adjectives to either verbs or adverbs. Some of the words are exemplified in (8) below.
8.Adjective Verb and Adverb
a. black black
b. brown brown
c. slow slow
d. empty empty
e. green green
f. fast fast
g. hard hard
Example sentences are presented in (9) below.
9.
a. He blacked out.
b. She emptied the can.
c. They slowed the process down.
We have looked at few examples of conversion but there are still others involving other parts of speech which are not examined here.
As indicated earlier, conversion is a very productive word formation process in languages.
Exercises
1. How productive is conversion as a word formation process?
2. List and discuss the various types of conversion you know.
3. With illustrations in at least two languages, discuss how words are formed.
NB
a. For other lectures on word formation rules see Acronyms, Borrowing and Compounding.
b Excerpts are taken from Arokoyo (2017).
References
Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth. (2017). Unlocking Morphology. Ilorin: Chridamel Books.
One thought on “Conversion: a Word Formation Process”