Derivational processes

We can now examine the range of morphological processes which can be utilized to derive a nominal from a verb.

Using the verb root unchanged (zero derivation) is attested for eight of the nine varieties of nominalization (the exception is Property-nom)

. Unit-nom—many, including jump, throw, chat, offer, laugh, cough, cheer

. Activity-nom—a few, including use

. State-nom—a fair few, including love, envy, delight, interest; see (19)

. Result-nom—a few, including wound, bite, plan

. Object-nom—quite a few, including plant, taste, smell, and those in (25)

. Locus-nom—a few, including track, exit, trap and those in (32)

. Agent-nom—a few, including witness

. Inst-nom—a few, including cart, plaster, veil

Just as a nominalization ending in -ing must be distinguished from the verb in an ING complement clause, so a zero derivation nominalization must be distinguished from the use of the base form of a verb in a GIVE A VERB, HAVE A VERB or TAKE A VERB construction. For instance, the verb borrow does not have a zero derivation nominalization, but it can be used after have a, as in Can I have a borrow of your car for the weekend please? And track is used both as a verb and as a Locus-nom, but not after give a, have a or take a.

Other derivational processes involve the addition of a suffix. Some suffixes do not engender any changes in a root to which they are added; for example, -er, -ing, -ment, -al, -ee. Others are to some degree fused with the root and may involve stress shift and/or phonological changes; these include -ant/-ent, -(t)ion, -ance/-ence, -ure. Deverbal nominalizing suffixes will now be briefly discussed, one at a time.

(i) -er (or -or or -ar), pronounced as / e (r)/. Used only for Agent-nom and Inst-nom. (We find verb pray and Object-nom prayer but these are loans from Old French preier and preiere respectively; the final -er in prayer is not an instance of the nominalizing suffix -er.)

The suffix -er also attaches to some nouns, such as footballer, New Yorker. It is highly productive and is frequently added to a multi-word sequence, as Pacific Islander, clock-watcher and do-gooder.

(ii) -ant (and -ent), pronounced as  (or just as /nt/). Can involve change in root vowel and in stress; for example, preside  , president , and reside/resident. The root-final diphthong is dropped from occupy /  , occupant  ; see also study/student and supplicate/supplicant. Used for Agent-nom’s and for some Inst-nom’s (including lubricant).

(iii) -ard (or -art), pronounced as  . In most cases, simply added to the root.

(iv) -ing, pronounced as  . Forms five varieties of nominalization:

. Unit-nom—just a few, including happening

. Activity-nom—very many, including running, drowning, trapping, understanding, urging

. State-nom—a few, including liking, rejoicing, craving, longing

. Result-nom—many, which also function as Unit-nom’s, including weaving, wrapping, building, knitting.

. Object-nom doubling as Activity-nom—building

(v) -ation, -ition, -tion, -ion, pronounced as . Of Romance origin, mostly used on Romance verbs. There is considerable allomorphic variation, of which just the basic outline is sketched here. First, with verbs ending in -ate, -ise/-ize and -ify we get:

— (a) Ending in -ate, /-eit/. Replace final /t/ by , shift stress to penultimate vowel. For example:

— (b) Ending in -ise/-ize, /aiz/. Add , with stress shift. For example:

— (c) Ending in -ify /-ifai/. Replace final /ai/ by  with stress shift. For example:

Looking now at other verbs, we find:

— (d) Ending in /t/, /d/ or /s/. One of two possibilities.

(d1)  replaces final t, d or s. For example:

This is shown in various ways in spelling. Final t is sometimes retained, as in desert/ desertion, and sometimes replaced by ss or s, as in permit/permission, convert/ conversion. Final d is sometimes changed to t, as in intend/intention, but more often replaced by s, as in extend/extension. Final ss or s (before e) is generally retained, as in discuss/discussion, confuse/confusion.

(d₂) Add  , with vowel change and stress shift. For example:

And compete/competition, oppose/opposition, recite/recitation, accuse/accusation. Note that different processes apply for convert/conversion and converse/conversation; if they did not, the two nominalizations might coincide.

—(e) Ending in /m/, /b/ or /v/; add  with vowel change, retaining /m/ but replacing /b/ or /v/. For example:

And describe/description, perceive/perception. But note that observe/observation is an exception, being of type (f).

Some verbs ending in /v/ replace this by  , with vowel change and stress shift. For example:

and resolve/resolution (which comes from the same Romance root).

— (f) Ending in /l/ or /n/. Generally add  , with stress shift:

And imagine/imagination, resign/resignation, explain/explanation, console/consolation.

Verbs which used to end in /r/, but have now lost this in most dialects, include it before  (as before other suffixes commencing with a vowel). For example:

and consider/consideration, admire/admiration, prepare/preparation.

The suffix derives five varieties of nomination:

. Unit-nom—very, very many, including installation, extension, donation, assassination, promotion, imagination, continuation, and a considerable number from the SPEAKING type, such as declaration, narration, explanation

. State-nom—quite a few, including admiration, inspiration

. Property-nom—a few, including indication, distinction, inclusion

. Result-nom—a few, such as information; and a fair few which also function as Unit-nom, including imitation, solution, decision

. Object-nom—a few, including assumption, supposition, selection, possession

(vi) -ment, pronounced /-m e nt/ (or sometimes just /-mnt/). Another suffix of Romance origin, found mostly with Romance verbs but also with some Germanic verbs, such as amazement, settlement. Used with many verbs which include prefix em-/en- or be-, including embarrassment, endorsement, belittlement. Forms six varieties of nominalization (no more than a few instances of each). Examples include:

. Unit-nom—statement, argument, commencement, postponement

. State-nom—enjoyment, bewilderment, excitement, entertainment

. Property-nom—measurement

. Result-nom—arrangement (also functions as Unit-nom)

. Object-nom—payment

. Locus-nom—settlement, encampment

(vii) -ance/-ence, pronounced  . A further suffix of Romance origin used with many Romance and just a few Germanic verbs (for example, utterance). It can also nominalize adjectives ending in -ent through replacing this with -ence; for example, violent/violence.

Some verbs simply add /-ens/; for example, guide, attend, resist, perform, appear, depend, avoid, assist. Others involve stress shift and vowel change, for example:

A number, ending in -er,  , replace this by  , for example:

Others, ending in -er  , replace this with  plus vowel change and stress shift:

Note also utter/utterance, differ/difference, hinder/hindrance, infer/inference. And there is enter/entrance.

This suffix forms six varieties of nominalization; again, there are no more than a few instances of each. Examples include:

. Activity-nom—avoidance, assistance, guidance, attendance, resistance, performance, appearance, remembrance

. State-nom—annoyance, preference

. Property-nom—resemblance, dependence

. Result-nom, and also Unit-nom—utterance

. Locus-nom—residence

. Locus-nom doubling as Unit-nom—entrance

(viii) -y, pronounced as /i/. This is an old Germanic suffix, basically used to form adjectives from nouns; for example leaf-y, risk-y. It also derives a number of nominals from verbs. Most of the verbs end in orthographic -re or -er, phonological  ; the suffix adds /ri/ and sometimes omits the preceding  ; for example:

With apologize, suffix /i/ substitutes for /aiz/. There are five varieties of nominalization involving -y, each with just a few members. They include

. Unit-nom—apology, enquiry, delivery

. Activity-nom—recovery

. Result-nom—injury

. Object-nom—discovery

. Locus-nom—entry

(ix) -al, pronounced  , almost exclusively with Romance verbs. This is simply added to the root. Approval is a State-nom, and there are a number of Unit-nom’s, including arrival, dismissal, refusal, proposal, deferral, recital and revival.

(x) -ee, pronounced /i:/. Also a Romance suffix, simply added to the root. Almost all examples are Object-nom’s—nominee, employee, lessee, assignee, grantee. Fairly recently, this suffix has been generalized from applying just to an underlying O argument to also describing an underlying S (a special intransitive agentive nominal). Standee (‘someone who stands’) dates from about 1830, escapee from about 1860, and attendee and retiree from about 1940. It appears that all four words were introduced in the USA and have now spread to other English-speaking communities.

(xi) -ure. This suffix, also of Romance origin, has a number of different forms. We find  added to depart,  to mix and  to fail. Final /z/ is replaced by  with enclose and please (the latter also involves a vowel change). This suffix derives four varieties of nominalization:

. Unit-nom—failure, departure

. State-nom—pleasure

. Object-nom—mixture

. Locus-nom—enclosure

(xii) -t. There are old Germanic verb/Object-nom-plus-Unit-nom pairs give/gift and bequeath/bequest, each with the addition of -t plus considerable phonological change. A phonologically similar but etymologically unrelated pair is complain/ complaint, both forms being loans from Old French.

There are just one or two examples of other morphological processes which form nominalizations from verbs. They can usefully be listed according to type of nominalization. (This is not an exhaustive list.)

Unit-nom—analyze/analysis, speak/speech, believe/belief

Activity-nom—grieve/grief, behave/behavior, pretend/pretence

State-nom—hate/hatred

Result-nom and Unit-nom—lose/loss

Object-nom—know/knowledge, lend/loan, bear/burden, choose/choice, favor/favorite, spit/spittle

Object-nom and Unit-nom—think/thought, feed/food