Chapter in:
Paradigms in Word Formation: Theory and applications
Edited by Alba E. Ruz, Cristina Fernández-Alcaina and Cristina Lara-Clares
[Studies in Language Companion Series 225] 2022
► pp. 181–214

Chapter 8
Paradigms in English and Czech noun/verb conversion

A contrastive study of corresponding lexemes

| Charles University
| Charles University
The study deals with English noun/verb conversion pairs that have both formally and semantically close counterpart pairs in Czech. The study’s aim is to examine how these nouns and verbs, linked with similar semantic relations in English and Czech, are accommodated in the two languages with different morphological structures and conversion playing a different role. The noun/verb pairs, extracted from the British National Corpus and from the SYN2000 corpus, are analysed as two-cell paradigms and examined along with selected derivatives. The data suggest that in the Czech sample, nominals are preferred over verbs in expressing the particular meanings and most verbs appear as denominal formations, often differently from their English counterparts.
Keywords: noun/verb conversion, paradigm, Czech, English, contrastive study
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Noun/verb conversion and the paradigmatic approach to word formation
    • 2.1Conversion in English and Czech
    • 2.2Applying a paradigmatic approach to conversion
  • 3.Data compilation
    • 3.1Extraction of the parallel sample
    • 3.2Semantic classification
    • 3.3Extension of the paradigms; competing formations
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Paradigms based on conversion pairs of verbs and action nouns
    • 4.2Paradigms based on conversion pairs of verbs and agent nouns
    • 4.3Paradigms based on conversion pairs of verbs and nouns expressing state
    • 4.4Paradigms based on conversion pairs of verbs and result nouns
    • 4.5Paradigms based on conversion pairs of verbs and instrument nouns
    • 4.6Paradigms based on conversion pairs of verbs and nouns that refer to an object/quality_added
    • 4.7Paradigms based on conversion pairs of verbs and nouns that refer to object/quality_removed
    • 4.8Paradigms based on conversion pairs of verbs and place nouns
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Differences between the English and the Czech paradigms
    • 5.2Verbs in the Czech conversion pairs: The aspect changing strategy
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
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