Noun-verb conversion without a generative lexicon

Abstract

This paper discusses different types of zero-derived de-verbal nominals with a focus on result nominals, simple event nominals and complex event nominals. I argue that zero-derived nominals should be treated on a par with overtly derived nominals. I claim that verbs that have related zero-derived nominals have nominal gender features in their lexical entries in addition to verbal features, like Proc and Res, and that merging a gender feature on top of an event-structure representation results in a nominal. To capture the fact that verbal entries can be inserted in both nominal and verbal contexts, I apply the principle of underattachment, or underassociation, that allows lexical entries to be inserted in the syntax even when not all of the features in the lexical entry are present in the syntax (see e.g. Ramchand 2008 and Caha 2009). In verbal contexts, no gender feature is inserted, and in some of the nominal contexts, only a subset of the verbs event features are present. I further argue that the only function of overt nominalizing suffixes is to lexicalize a gender feature. If the lexical entry of a verb already contains a gender feature, no overt nominalizing suffix needs to be inserted.