CONVERSION ( morphology and syntax)

CONVERSION

In addition to affixation and compounding, there is another major word-formations process, namely conversion. "By Conversion we understand derivation of a new lexeme from an existing one without a specific morphological marker indicating the change of word class and meaning."(Kortmann 2005, 103).

As Kortmann points out, the word itself does not change although it shifts into another word category and therefore experiences a change of meaning.  Due to this apparent lack of change, linguistis also refer to conversion as zero derivation.

The Definition of Conversion

Conversion is process changes the part of speech and meaning of an existing root without producing any change in pronunciation or spelling and without adding any affix. This process is also known as zero-derivation.

The Process of Conversion

Process where by an item is adopted or converted to a new word class without the addition of an affix.

Conversion of verbs into nouns and nouns into verbs is extremely productive in English. Usually the same word-form can be used as a verb or a noun, with only the grammatical context enabling us to know which category it belongs to. Thus, jump in the two sentences below is exactly the same in form but it belongs to two different lexemes.

In [a] jump is the non-finite form of the verb ‘jump’ while in [] it is the singular form of the noun jump.

a. The pig will jump over the stile!

b. What a jump!

In What a jump! the verb is converted into a noun by ‘zero derivation’, i.e. without using any affix. What enables us to know whether the word is a noun or a verb is the position that it occupies in the sentence. If we see the subject the pig and the auxiliary verb will before the word jump, we know it must be a verb. But when jump occurs after the indefinite article a we know it must be a noun.

The Types of Conversion

The most productive form of conversion occurs within the two following word-classes changes that are conversion noun into verb ( N > V ) and conversion verb into noun  ( V > N ).

This is the listed some common examples of forms that are subject to noun-to-verb or verb-to-noun conversion. It is not difficult to think of situations where these words may be used either as nouns or as verbs:

light     bridge  seat     kick    bottle  cry       start     smell    paper

fish      bus      dog      lift       knife    call       sleep    skin      fear

farm     police   smear   finger   hope    name    cover   rain      attack

Example :

Noun > Verb Conversion                             Verb > Noun Conversion

1.      My mother bottled the juice.                    4. Sometimes one just need a cry.

2.      The robber knifed a man.                          5. She made me a call

3.      My father named me Susan.

Conversion is not restricted to nouns and verbs. Adjectives too can undergo conversion. For instance, the word-form green realises an adjective in [a] and a noun in [b]:

a. The Green Party had political clout in the 1980s. (green Adjective)

b. The Green had political clout in the 1980s. (green Noun)

Likewise, some adverbs are formed from adjectives without any perceptible change in shape:

1.      She is a fast runner. (fast Adjective)

2.      She runs very fast. (fast Adverb)

Slow has even more possibilities. It can be an adjective, an adverb, a verb or a noun:

a. He is a slow bowler. (slow Adjective)

b. Go slow. (slow Adverb)

c. Slow the car! (slow Verb)

d. Mr Slow is a popular children’s book. (slow Noun)

Conversion can be also restricted to preposition and noun.

The up and down of life.

In some cases, conversion is accompanied by a change in the stress pattern known as stress shift. Initial-stress derivation is a phonological process in English, wherein stress is moved to the first syllable of any of several dozen verbs when they become nouns or adjectives.

transpórt (V)  >  tránsport (N)

rewríte (V) >  réwrite (N)

condúct (V)  >  cónduct (N)

subjéct (V)  >  súbject (N)

Example :

1.      Conflict.

as a verb, "I hope that won't conflíct in any way."

as a noun, "There will be no cónflict."

2.      Record.

as a verb, "Remember to recórd the show!".

as a noun, "I'll keep a récord of that request."

3.      Permit.

as a verb, "I won't permít that."

as a noun, "We already got a pérmit."