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Chapter 3. Actional nominalization in Present-Day English in the light of the Referenced Index of Competition

Abstract

The suffix ‑ment is a nominalizer which has been portrayed as practically “defunct” (Anshen & Aronoff 1999: 24), although recent coinages cast doubts on conclusive statements (Bauer et al. 2013). This investigation is based on nonce formations from the BNC and COCA and aims at exploring nominalizations which compete for the meaning action in order to understand the current degree of productivity of the processes involved. This is done through a corpus-based quantitative approach which considers ‑ment in the light of its relationship to other competitors, e.g. ‑ing or conversion. The results reveal that ‑ment is normally surpassed by other processes, but also that it has found a niche of application which secures a minimal productive status.

Abstract

The suffix ‑ment is a nominalizer which has been portrayed as practically “defunct” (Anshen & Aronoff 1999: 24), although recent coinages cast doubts on conclusive statements (Bauer et al. 2013). This investigation is based on nonce formations from the BNC and COCA and aims at exploring nominalizations which compete for the meaning action in order to understand the current degree of productivity of the processes involved. This is done through a corpus-based quantitative approach which considers ‑ment in the light of its relationship to other competitors, e.g. ‑ing or conversion. The results reveal that ‑ment is normally surpassed by other processes, but also that it has found a niche of application which secures a minimal productive status.

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Towards a competition-based word-formation theory 1
  4. Part 1. Competition in affixation
  5. Chapter 2. A lexicalist approach to affixal rivalry and its explanatory basis 34
  6. Chapter 3. Actional nominalization in Present-Day English in the light of the Referenced Index of Competition 72
  7. Chapter 4. Measuring affix rivalry as a gradient relationship 104
  8. Chapter 5. Exploring linguistic competition in English derivatives ending in ‑ ie and ‑ o through a cognitive-onomasiological approach 139
  9. Chapter 6. Diminutive formation in Modern Greek 176
  10. Part 2. Macro-level competition, the lexicon and its interfaces
  11. Chapter 7. Competition between affixation and conversion in Present-Day English denominal verbs 208
  12. Chapter 8. A diachronic perspective on competition in denominal verb formation in Italian 247
  13. Chapter 9. Competition of lexicon vs. pragmatics in word formation 275
  14. Chapter 10. [N1 + N2], [N + A], and [N1 + de + N2] 297
  15. Chapter 11. Revisiting Poser’s (1992) “Blocking of phrasal constructions by lexical items” from the perspective of the economy of language use principle 326
  16. Index 351
Competition in Word-Formation
This chapter is in the book Competition in Word-Formation
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.284.03fer

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Towards a competition-based word-formation theory 1
  4. Part 1. Competition in affixation
  5. Chapter 2. A lexicalist approach to affixal rivalry and its explanatory basis 34
  6. Chapter 3. Actional nominalization in Present-Day English in the light of the Referenced Index of Competition 72
  7. Chapter 4. Measuring affix rivalry as a gradient relationship 104
  8. Chapter 5. Exploring linguistic competition in English derivatives ending in ‑ ie and ‑ o through a cognitive-onomasiological approach 139
  9. Chapter 6. Diminutive formation in Modern Greek 176
  10. Part 2. Macro-level competition, the lexicon and its interfaces
  11. Chapter 7. Competition between affixation and conversion in Present-Day English denominal verbs 208
  12. Chapter 8. A diachronic perspective on competition in denominal verb formation in Italian 247
  13. Chapter 9. Competition of lexicon vs. pragmatics in word formation 275
  14. Chapter 10. [N1 + N2], [N + A], and [N1 + de + N2] 297
  15. Chapter 11. Revisiting Poser’s (1992) “Blocking of phrasal constructions by lexical items” from the perspective of the economy of language use principle 326
  16. Index 351
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