Contents introduction chapter I. Word formation in modern englsh

Lexicalisation of plural forms of nouns. This is a process of the vocabulary replenishment when the plural form of nouns (grammatical inflection) loses it’s grammatical meaning and becomes isolated from the paradigm, as e.g. arm+s – arms= weapons. Lexicalization is usefully contrasted with grammaticalization, that is, the emergence of new linguistic units that fulfill grammatical functions. Finally, lexicalization is also a concept that lends itself to the study of cross-linguistic differences in the types of meaning that are lexicalized in specific domains such as, for example, motion.
Substantivation of adjectives and adjectivisation of nouns. This is a dropping of the final nominal member of a frequently used attributive word-group, the remaining adjective takes on the meaning and all the syntactic functions of the noun and thus develops into a new word changing its class membership and becoming homonymous to the existing adjective, e.g. final examination – final, documentary film – a documentary. Modern English adjectives may be either wholly or partly substantivised. By wholly substantivised adjectives we mean adjectives wholly converted into nouns. Such adjectives may be preceded by the article, take the plural inflection and may be used in the possessive case, e. g.: a native, the native, two natives, a native's character, etc. Adjectives only partly converted into nouns take the definite article (as regular nouns do) but are neither inflected for the plural nor can be used in the possessive case. The definite article has also a different function from that it would have when used with a noun: the happy means "happy people" in general. Such substantivised adjectives keep much of their adjectival nature, which we see in the possibility of qualifying them by means of adverbs: e. g. the really happy.
Substantivation of adjectives
One should distinguish two main types of substantivation – complete (or whole) and partial.
Completely (or wholly) substantivized adjectives have the full paradigm of a noun, i.e. the singular and the plural forms, the genitive case and they may be associated with various determiners (definite, indefinite and zero articles, demonstrative and possessive pronouns), e.g. an official, the official, officials, the officials, officials, officials’, this official, our officials.
Partially substantivized adjectives (PSA) do not acquire the full paradigm of a noun, i.e. they acquire only some of the characteristics of the nouns; they are used with the definite article. PSA fall into several structural-semantic groups:
a) PSA denoting a group or a class of people; used mostly in plural, e.g. reds, greens, blues, buffs, etc.
b) PSA denoting abstract notions, e.g. the good, the bad, the evil, the beautiful, the extravagant, the ordinary, the singular, the plural,etc. Such PSA are singular in meaning and form and take a singular verb, e.g. The good in him overweighs the bad. My mother never lost her taste for the extravagant. She didn’t regard Eliza's behaviour as particularly out of the ordinary.
c) PSA denoting inanimite things and used mostly in plural, e.g. sweets, ancients, eatables, greens, valuables,etc.
d) PSA denoting nationalities and used in plural, e.g. the English, the French, the Chinese, the Irish, the Dutch, etc. E.g. The English are great lovers of tea.
e) PSA denoting languages, e.g. English, German, Italian, French, Ukrainian,etc.
Such f) PSA are singular in form and meaning, e.g. In number of speakers English nowadays is second only to Chinese. English is the official language of Australia and New Zealand.
There are cases when the grammatical form of the plural of nouns becomes isolated from the paradigm and acquires a new lexical meaning. This leads to the appearance of new lexical units, e.g.:
a colour - colours (=hues) :: colours (=regimental flags);
a force forces (=powers) :: forces (=an army);
a custom - customs (=habits):: customs (=taxes on imported goods);
a draught- draughts (=currents of air) :: draughts (=a game);
a glass - glasses (=vessels for drinking):: glasses (=spectacles);