CONVERSION IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH

In this paragraph we present the types of conversion according to parts of speech and secondary word classes involved. By secondary word classes we mean lexico-grammatical classes, that is subsets within parts of speech that differ in meaning and functions, as, for instance, transitive and intransitive verbs, countable and uncountable nouns, gradable and non-gradable adjectives, and so on.

We know already that the most frequent types of conversion are those from noun to verb, from verb to noun and from adjective to noun and to verb. The first type seems especially important, conversion being the main process of verb-formation at present.

Less frequent but also quite possible is conversion from form words to nouns. E. g. He liked to know the ins and outs. I shan?t go into the whys and wherefores. He was familiar with ups and downs of life. Use is even made of affixes. Thus, ism is a separate word nowadays meaning ?a set of ideas or principles?, e. g. Freudism, existentialism and all the other isms.

In all the above examples the change of paradigm is present and helpful for classifying the newly coined words as cases of conversion. But it is not absolutely necessary, because conversion is not limited to such parts of speech which possess a paradigm. That, for example, may be converted into an adverb in informal speech: I was that hungry I could have eaten a horse.

R. Quirk and his colleagues extend the notion of conversion to re-classification of secondary word classes within one part of speech, a phenomenon also called transposition. Thus, mass nouns and abstract nouns are converted into countable nouns with the meanings ?a unit of N?, ?a kind of N?, ?an instance of N?. E. g. two coffees, different oils (esp. in technical literature), peaceful initiatives.

The next commonest change is changing of intransitive verbs into transitive: to run a horse in a race, to march the prisoners, to dive a plane. Other secondary verb-classes can be changed likewise. Non-gradable adjectives become gradable with a certain change of meaning: He is more English than the English.

We share a more traditional approach and treat transposition within one part of speech as resulting in lexico-semantic variation of one and the same word, not as coining a new one (see ? 3.4).

27. SHORTENING OF SPOKEN WORDS AND ITS CAUSES

Shortening is one of the two types of w.-creation in English, when a part of a w.or a w.-group is substituded for a word. The causes of the process can be linguistic and extra-linguistic ( e.g. ? the demnd of rhythm/changes in the life of people).

There are 2 main types of shortenings : graphical and lexical.

Graphical abbreviations are the result of shortening ws./w.-groups only in written speech, while orally the corresponding full forms are used. ? from Latin e.g. ? exampli gratia, p.a. ? a year ? per annum, lb ? pound ? libra; gr.abbr.of native origin ? Mon. ? Monday, Apr. ? April, Yorks ? Yorkshire, Mr,Mrs, B.A. ? Bachelor of Arts etc.

Initialisms are the bordering case between gr.and lex.abbrev. it?s sometimes difficult to translate initialisms without special dictionaries. There are 2 types of init. ?a) initialisms with alphabetic reading ? UK, USA; b) ? which are read as if they are ws. ? NATO, UNESCO; c)- which coinsides with Engl/ws. in their sound form; such initialisms are called ? acronyms ? CLASS ? Computor-based Laboratory for Automated School System.

Lexical abbr.are classified acc.to the part of the w.which is clipped. Mostly the end is cliped, as the beginning in most cases is the root and expresses the lex.mean.of the w. ? apocope. ? disco, intro, expo. In other cases the beginning of a w.is clipped ? syncope. ? chute ? parachute, copter ? helicopter. Smt shortening influences the spelling ? Coke- coca-cola, trank ? tranquuilizer.

There are some secondary ways of shortening. Such as blending ? is a w.that is made by joining a w.-group or two synonyms into one word ? branch ? breakfast+lunch, slanguage, magalog (magazine+catalogue)

Back formation the process relevant only diachronically. It?s the way of w.-creation when a w.is formed by dropping the final morpheme to form a new w. It?s opposed to suffixation. Beggar ? french origin ? an in Engl. Formed a verb to beg. Other examples ? to bach from bachelor, to collocate ? collocation, to televise ? television, to compute ? computer.

Distinction should be made between shortening which results in new lex. items and a specific type of shortening proper only to written speech resulting in numerous graphical abbreviations( restricted in use to written speech,occur. In various kinds of texts,articles,advertisments ? e.g. Dr.=doctor,Mr.=mister,Oct.=October).Graphical abbreviations cannot be considered new lex voc. units.

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 297