Contents introduction chapter I. Word formation in modern englsh

Conversion. Conversion is a highly productive ways of word-formation process that assigns an existing word to a different word class, part of speech, or syntactic category: work-to work, sleep-to sleep. In a conversion pair, words can be derived semantically: verbs converted from nouns (fish-to fish); nouns converted from verbs (to move-move). So, conversion is the transferring one part of speech to another by changing it’s paradigm without altering it’s initial form (neither graphical nor phonetic changes). Sometimes this type of word-formation is called “verbing”. As a rule, conversion does not cause any significant change in the meaning of the word: a spy – to spy, doctor – to doctor, waiter – to waiter, or the above-mentioned example of the word to “head”⁶. Paradigm of the word is the only thing which undergoes significant change , however, it’s semantics remains unchanged. Conversion is considered as an affix-less way of word-formation along with compounding, sound-imitation, shortening by some linguists. Others think it to be a form of derivation which could be presented by the formula ‘base + zero-affix’.
Typical semantic relations within a converted pair:
I. Verbs converted from noun (denominal verbs) denote:
1.action characteristic of the object ape (n) - to ape (v)
butcher (n) - to butcher (v)
2.instrumental use of the object screw (n) - to screw (v) whip (n) - to whip (v)
3.acquisition or addition of the object fish (n) - to fish (v)
II. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal nouns) denote:
1. instance of the action:to jump (v) -jump (n); to move (v) - move (n)
2. agent of the action: to help (v) - help (n), to switch (v) - switch (n)
3. place of action: to drive (v) - drive (n), to walk (v) - walk (n)
4.object or result of the action: to peel (v) - peel (n), to find (v) - find (n).
Compounding. In terms of structure compounds are not homogeneous.⁷ This is a second most productive way of word-formation. It can be easy to understand by this formula: stem+stem (foot+ball, class+room). Compounding occurs when two or more words or signs are joined to make a longer word or sign. A compound that uses a space rather than a hyphen or concatenation is called an open compound or a spaced compound; the alternative is a closed compound. Apart from stem+stem composition, there is also derivational compound type which is created by joining two stems together and derivational affixes at the end: kind-hearted (stem+stem+affix).
A common semantic classification of compounds yields four types: