NOMINALISATION
In linguistics, nominalization
is a type of word formation in which a verb or an adjective (or another part of
speech) is used as (or transformed into) a noun. The verb form is nominalize.
It is also called nouning.
(E.G., a verb, an adjective or an adverb) as a
noun, or as the head of a noun phrase, with or without morphological
transformation.
The term refers, for
instance, to the process of producing a noun from another part of speech by
adding a derivational affix
(E.G., the noun
legalization from the verb legalize).
Suffixes are certain
groupings of letters that can be attached to the end of words to change their
meaning. Most verbs and adjectives that become nouns are changed using
suffixes.
Two types of
nominalization are found in English.
1. This type requires the
addition of a derivational suffix to create a noun.
2. The same word as a noun
without any additional morphology. This second process is referred to as
zero-derivation.
1 DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY:
This is a process by which
a grammatical expression is turned into a noun phrase.
For example,
in the sentence
"Combine the two chemicals," combine acts as a verb.
This can be turned into a
noun via the addition of -action, as in
"The experiment
involved the combination of the two chemicals."
NOUN FROM A VERB:
There are certain patterns
that we follow to decide which suffix is needed in order to create a noun from
a verb.
·
The most straightforward way of turning a verb into a noun is
through the use of gerunds. These are made by adding the suffix “-ING” to the
end of the verb.
For example: Drinking,
Jumping, Swimming, Walking, Writing, etc…
·
When we turn a verb into a noun to represent someone (or
occasionally something) who is an agent of that action, or who performs the
action in a professional capacity, we typically use the suffixes “-OR,” “-“ER”.
or “-r.”
For example: Actor,
Teacher, Worker, etc…
·
For verbs that become nouns to represent someone who is the
recipient of an action, we often use the suffix “-EE.”
For Example: employee,
Payee, Interviewee, etc..
·
We can use a variety of different suffixes to describe an
action in general. The most common of these are, “-TION,” “-SION,” “-ANCE,”
“-MENT,” and “-ENCE”; in some instances, we change the ending of the verb
slightly in order to take the suffix.
For example: Appearance,
Conclusion, Government, Invitation, Reference, etc..
·
Some other suffixes that work in this way are “-AL” and
“-URE,”
For example: Failure,
Perusal, etc….
NOUN FROM AN ADJECTIVE:
We change adjectives into
nouns when we want to speak of them as general ideas or concepts. Adjectives
can take a variety of different suffixes, depending on how they are spelled.
·
We often use the suffix “-NESS” for many adjectives. Most of
the time, we can simply add the suffix on to The end of the adjective without
making any changes to its spelling.
For example: Hardness,
Greatness, Seriousness, etc…
However, when we use this
suffix with an adjective ending in “-Y,” we change “Y” to “I”:
For example: Happiness,
Steadiness, etc…
·
Some adjectives ending in a “-T” preceded by a “long vowel
sound” can take this suffix as well
For example: Greatness,
Flatness, etc…
·
Other adjectives that end in a “-T” preceded by a “consonant”
will take the suffix “-Y” to become nouns. For example: Difficulty, Honesty,
Modesty, etc…
·
When adjectives end in “-E,” they often take the suffix
“-ITY” to become nouns. However, there is often a change to the spelling of the
word. Usually, we simply drop “E” and replace it with “-ITY,”
For example: Rarity,
Scarcity, etc…
·
When the word ends in “BLE,” though, we have to change “LE”
to “IL,”
For example: Ability,
Responsibility, etc…
·
Uniquely, we also use the “-ITY” suffix to change the
adjective hilarious to hilarity, even though other adjectives with similar
endings (such as serious, grievous, callous, etc.) take the suffix “-NESS.”
·
We often use the suffix “-ANCE” for adjectives ending in
“-ANT,”
For example: Importance,
Ignorance,
·
We often use the suffix “-ENCE” for adjectives ending in
“-ENT,”
For example: Independence,
Silence, etc…
2 CONVERSION OR ZERO
DERIVATION:
When we use a verb or
adjective as a noun without changing its spelling in any way, it is called
conversion or zero derivation.
Verbs
Conversion is especially
common with verbs, and there are many instances where the same word may
function as a verb or a noun, depending on the context.
For example:
1 “Please answer the
phone, Tom.” (Verb)
“We’ll need an answer by tomorrow.” (Noun)
2 “I run each morning before
breakfast.” (Verb)
“I’m going for a run later today.” (Noun)
Less commonly, there are
instances in which, instead of changing a word’s spelling, we change where we
pronounce a stress on the word’s syllables to indicate a shift from a verb to a
noun; this change is known as a super fix.
For example:
1 “You need to convert pounds into kilograms.”
(Verb)
“The church always welcomes recent converts
to its meetings.” (noun)
2 “Make sure you record
the meeting so we can review it later.” (Verb)
“I love listening to old records.” (Noun)
3 “Please don’t insult my
intelligence.” (Verb)
“We will not forget this insult to our
company.” (Noun)
The word use can also
function as either a noun or a verb, but instead of changing the stress on a
syllable, we change the actual pronunciation of the word, as in:
“We plan to use a
diagnostic test to evaluate the problem.”
NOMINAL ADJECTIVES:
We can also convert
adjectives into nouns without changing spelling, but we generally do so by
adding the article “THE” before the word. These are known as nominal
adjectives.
For example:
“The wealthy have an
obligation to help the poor.”
“We all want the best for
her.”
“This law protects the
innocent.”