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Denominal Verb Formation in English

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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Denominal Verb Formation in English A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of Linguistics By Carolyn A. Gottfurcht EVANSTON, ILLINOIS June 2008 2 © Copyright by Carolyn A. Gottfurcht 2007 All Rights Reserved 3 ABSTRACT Denominal Verb Formation in English Carolyn A. Gottfurcht This dissertation explores the factors that influence the creation and interpretation of novel denominal verbs in English. Of particular focus is the potential influence of one factor, termed here the Semantic Category Distribution Effect. The Semantic Category Distribution Effect involves the type frequency distribution of existing forms of a given denominal verb formation process (e.g. conversion, -ize, -ify, -ate) across semantic categories (e.g., ORNATIVE, RESULTATIVE, LOCATIVE, INSTRUMENTAL), and the impact of this distribution upon the probability of application of that process upon a novel verb. The central hypothesis of this dissertation is that native English speakers are sensitive to and make use of this kind of type frequency distribution information when creating or interpreting novel denominal verbs. To provide evidence in support of this hypothesis, a corpus study was conducted to identify all verbs in the Oxford English Dictionary Online that were unambiguously derived from nouns. The results of this study were then compared to the results of two experimental tasks, which asked subjects to provide novel denominal verbs consistent with given scenarios of varying semantics. The results of both types of studies show that each of the English denominal verb formation processes is possible for each of the semantic categories, suggesting that all processes 4 cover the same semantic domain, and therefore that all processes share the same underlying semantic structure. However, the results also show that the processes are not equally distributed in terms of type frequency among the semantic categories, and that the semantic category distributions of the newly created forms are positively correlated with the semantic category distributions of the existing forms, providing evidence of the Semantic Category Distribution Effect. Lastly, analyses of both the corpus study and experimental data indicate that the nature of the interaction between processes is characterized by constant competition. Taken together, the findings here suggest that distributional frequency information plays an important role in native speaker competence in denominal verb formation, and is further suggestive of a model of the mental lexicon that is quite dynamic and interactive. 5 Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank Janet Pierrehumbert, Michael Walsh Dickey, Brady Clark and Edith Moravcsik for all their hard work in providing feedback and the necessary support to help me see this dissertation to completion. Very special thanks are due to Edith for time, effort, and great care towards a student from another institution she had little experience with. Your faith and confidence in me has been worth more than I can ever express. I am also extremely grateful to Jeffrey Lidz, Dedre Gentner, Robert Gundlach, Rae Moses, Gregory Ward, Ann Bradlow, Hana Filip, and Jeff Cousens, all of whom have helped me at various stages in this process. It is absolutely necessary to acknowledge Beth Levin, who has been such an important influence from the beginning of my time at Northwestern, and I cannot thank her enough for contributing to every aspect of my life as a linguist. Also, Jennifer Hay, perhaps unbeknownst to her, has provided me with comments that have always been insightful and following her example has been very inspirational to me personally; I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge this and thank her for it. On a personal level, the patience and understanding of so very many friends and family members have been invaluable. Most certainly, Lynn Whitcomb has been like my guardian angel throughout this long journey. Many thanks are also due to Elisa Sneed German, Larissa Zakletska, Liza Kane Strain, and Kristin Widun, and my entire extended family in the Chicago area. Speaking of family, I am very grateful for the help of my brother, Bobby, and of course, 6 my parents. My mother, especially, has given me so much, not just life and education, but strength of spirit, which has been critical throughout this process. Lastly, but certainly not least of all, my husband, Joey Zafra, and my beloved children, Nina and the son we are currently expecting. You have brought an extraordinary significance to all that I have done and will ever do. 7 Contents Acknowledgments 5 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Focus of Current Research 11 1.2 Status of Denominal Verb Formation in English 13 1.3 Morpho-Phonological Perspective 18 1.4 Syntactic Perspective 39 1.5 Lexical-Semantic Perspective 49 1.6 Pragmatic Perspective 62 1.7 Semantic Category Distribution Effect Hypothesis 68 1.8 Outline of Dissertation 73 2 Corpus Analysis of English Denominal Verbs 76 2.1 Introduction 76 2.1.1 Choice of a Corpus 76 2.1.2 Type of Evidence a Corpus of English Denominal Verbs 78 May Provide 2.1.3 The Nature of This Corpus Study 80 2.2 Method 88 2.2.1 Collection Procedure 89 2.2.2 Culling Procedure 90 2.2.3 Coding Procedure 94 2.3 Results and Discussion 102 8 2.3.1 Total Number of Denominal Verbs Collected for Each 103 Verb Formation Process 2.3.2 What Semantic Categories are Possible for Each 114 Denominal Verb Formation Process in English? 2.3.2.1 be- 115 2.3.2.2 Conversion 116 2.3.2.3 -ify 117 2.3.2.4 eN- 118 2.3.2.5 -ize 119 2.3.2.6 -ate 120 2.3.3 What Semantic Categories are Probable for Each 125 Denominal Verb Formation Process in English? 2.3.4 What Factors Condition a Process‟ Probability of 143 Application for a Particular Semantic Category? 2.3.4.1 eN- 144 2.3.4.2 -ify 151 2.3.4.3 -ate 157 2.3.4.4 Conversion 165 2.3.4.5 -ize 173 2.3.5 What is the Nature of the Interaction Between the 182 Denominal Verb Formation Processes? 2.4 General Discussion and Summary 204 3 Novel Denominal Verb Experimental Tasks 212 3.1 Introduction 212 3.2 CELEX Subset 214 3.2.1 Method 214 3.2.2 Results 215 3.2.3 Predictions 217 3.3 Experiment 1: Novel Denominal Verb Task - 218 Open-Ended Response 9 3.3.1 Method 220 3.3.1.1 Subjects 226 3.3.1.2 Materials 226 3.3.1.3 Procedure 235 3.3.2 Results and Discussion 237 3.3.2.1 Coding of the Results 238 3.3.2.2 Treatment of Errors 240 3.3.2.3 Comparison of Use for All Denominal Verb Formation 242 Processes 3.3.2.4 Other Independent Variables 246 3.3.2.5 Semantic Variables 255 3.3.3 Experiment 1 Summary 271 3.4 Experiment 2: Novel Denominal Verb Task - 273 Forced Choice Response 3.4.1 Method 273 3.4.1.1 Subjects 274 3.4.1.2 Materials 274 3.4.1.3 Procedure 278 3.4.2 Results and Discussion 279 3.4.2.1 Selection Results Regardless of Semantic Context 281 3.4.2.2 Other Independent Variables 284 3.4.2.3 Semantic Variables 289 3.4.3 Experiment 2 Summary 299 3.5 General Discussion 300 4 Conclusion 309 4.1 Shared Underlying Semantic Structure 310 4.2 Semantic Category Distribution Effect 313 4.3 Competition among Denominal Verb Formation Processes 318 4.4 Implications 321 10 4.5 Further Study 327 References 330 Appendix-Test Item Base Noun Scenarios 335 Curriculum Vitae 351 11 1. Introduction 1.1 Focus of Current Research The focus of this dissertation is the formation of denominal verbs in English. Denominal verb formation is to be defined here as the formation of a verb directly from a noun base. For example, from the noun hospital, the verb hospitalize „to place in a hospital‟ is derived through the word formation process of -ize affixation. From the noun salt, the verb salt „to add salt to‟ is derived without overt affixation through the word formation process of conversion1. A fair amount of work has been done on the factors influencing denominal verb formation in English, coming from many different perspectives. A very important question to ask, regardless of the particular perspective taken, is what is the nature of native speaker competence in denominal verb formation? That is, what information is relevant in the successful formation and interpretation of English denominal verbs? A) What phonological information, if any, is relevant? B) What syntactic information, if any, is relevant? C) What semantic information, if any, is relevant? D) What pragmatic information, if any, is relevant? E) What extragrammatical information, if any, is relevant? Some of these questions have already been responded to in the literature and they will be reviewed below; other questions still need answers and it is the goal of the present work to 1 The term „word formation process‟ will be used to denote how these verbs are created. At this point, no theoretical significance is to be placed upon this terminology. It is not used here to indicate an assumption that the affixes that participate in these processes are rules rather than lexical entries or that conversion is to be distinguished from zero- affixation/zero-derivation. 12 address them. Specifically, through both corpus and experimental study, it is the intention here to provide evidence for yet another factor influencing the nature of English denominal verb formation: the Semantic Category Distribution Effect.
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