Feature GB047: Is there a productive morphological pattern for deriving an action/state noun from a verb?

Patrons: Hedvig Skirgård

Description ⇫

Summary

An action nominalization derives from a verb and functions like a noun or noun phrase. The result denotes an action or state. In English, we can exemplify this with the enemy’s destruction of the city. Arrive - arriving could also serves as an example, or, in Spanish, La concentración de Sherlock Holmes duró cinco horas. ‘Sherlock Holmes’ concentration lasted five hours’. This feature targets phonologically bound overt nominalizers, including affixes, clitics, tonal markers, reduplication, ablaut, etc. There needs to be productive derivation. The derived noun may also refer to states or events in addition to actions. The nominalization strategy may also derive other types of nominalization. Compounds of a verb root and a noun meaning 'action', 'state' or 'event are not action nominalizations unless further grammaticalized.

Procedure

  1. Code 1 if there is an element that productively attaches to verbs that forms an action/state nominalization such as arrival, concentration, etc.
  2. Do not code 1 if the relevant nouns are stated to be nouns in their own right and not derived.
  3. If nominalization is not discussed whatsoever, code ?.
  4. If nominalization is discussed at some length, but action/state nominalizations are not mentioned, code 0.

Examples

Chukchii (ISO 639-3: ckt, Glottolog: chuk1273)

The suffix -ɣərɣ(+VH) in Chukchii derives an action noun from a verb. ((+VH) indicates that it triggers dominant vowel harmony.) Chukchii is coded as 1 for this feature.

For example, the verb wʔi 'die' with an iterative aspect marker -tko can be nominalized with -ɣərɣ(+VH). The resulting noun means 'plague/epidemic/death' (Dunn 1999:144): 

wʔe-tko-ɣərɣ-ə-n 
die-ITER-NMLZ-ə-3SG.ABS
'his death'

Further reading

Hazout, Ilan. 1995. Action Nominalizations and the Lexicalist Hypothesis. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory No. 13.3, 355-404.

Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2013. Action Nominal Constructions. In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Nikitina, Tatiana. 2009. The function and form of action nominalization in Wan. Mandenkan No.45, 17-28

References

Dunn, Michael J. 1999. A Grammar of Chukchi. Canberra: Australian National University. (Doctoral dissertation, Australian National University)


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Name Glottocode Family Macroarea Contributor Value Source Comment