Luo: from Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

2008-05-18T17:32:53Z

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In morphology, '''conversion''' is a process which derives words without changing the phonological shape of the [[base]].

===Examples===
In English it is possible to derive [[verb]]s from [[adjective]]s in such a way that the [[verb]]s are interpreted as 'TO RENDER SOMETHING ADJECTIVE': ''solid-ify'' 'make solid', ''legal-ize'' 'make legal'. But we also find [[verb]]s of this (semantic) type which are phonologically identical to the base adjective: ''to clean'' 'make clean', ''to warm'' 'make warm' etc. These are instances of conversion.

===Comments===
Some linguists (e.g. Bloomfield 1933, Kiparsky 1982) assume that converted forms are derived by means of an [[affix]] without phonetic content, a so-called zero-affix or [[null morpheme]]. Others have challenged this view (e.g. Lieber 1980, 1981).

===Synonyms===
Other terms for this process are: [[null affixation]], [[zero-derivation]], [[hypostasis]], [[functional shift]], [[implicit transposition]].

===Link===
[http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Conversion&lemmacode=937 Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics]

===References===
*{{: Bloomfield 1933}}
*Don, J. 1993. Morphological Conversion. PhD diss. Utrecht University.
*Kiparsky, P. 1982. From Cyclic Phonology to Lexical Phonology. In ''The Structure of Phonological Representations (I).'' van der Hulst, H. & Smith, N. (eds.), 131-175.
*Lieber, R. 1980. On the Organization of the Lexicon. PhD diss. University of New Hampshire, reproduced by the IULC.
*Lieber, R. 1981. Morphological Conversion within a Restricted Theory of the Lexicon. In ''The Scope of Lexical Rules.'' Moortgat et al. (eds.), pages. Dordrecht: Foris.
*Marchand, H. 1969. ''The Categories and Types of Present-day English Word-Formation.'' München: Beck.
*{{: Spencer 1991}}

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[[Category:Morphology]]

Conversion - Revision history

Luo: from Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics