The semantics of noun-to-verb zero-derivation in English and Spanish

Autor: Valera Salvador
Jazyk: German<br />English
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, Vol 42, Iss 1, Pp 153-180 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0721-9067
1613-3706
DOI: 10.1515/zfs-2022-2016
Popis: The semantics of zero-derivation/conversion has attracted renewed interest both as a subject of description and as a means towards refined descriptions of the process. This paper takes the latter stance and compares which semantic categories occur in zero-derivation/conversion and in overt affixation in two languages with a different morphological model: English and Spanish. For attestation and distribution of the semantic categories, the paper relies on a stratified sample of denominal verbs collected from two comparable corpora: the British National Corpus and the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual. The sample consists in sets of ca. 50 denominal verb-forming resources, one per affixation process, namely affixation by -ate, -(i)fy, -ize/-ise, -en, en- in English, a-…-ar, en-…-ar, -ear, -ecer, -(i)ficar, -izar in Spanish, and zero-derivation/conversion in both languages. The results are contrasted within and across affixes/processes, within each language and across the two languages for the adequacy of a description as zero-derivation or as conversion. Statistical analysis shows that the process/affixes form a cline with overlaps and closer associations between specific affixes/processes and semantic categories, but no clear divide between zero-derivation/conversion and the rest of processes as far as the semantic categories are concerned.
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