Take the 2-minute tour ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.

When a noun is used as a verb, linguistically, this process is termed as morphological conversion:

Fish (n): This is a fish.
Fish (v): I'm fishing in the river.

Why shouldn't we call it syntactic conversion? The word itself didn't change only the grammatical role has been affected?

And if an adjective, for example, is converted into a verb by adding a derivational suffix, then it should be called morphological conversion. Am I right?

share|improve this question

closed as not constructive by MrHen, RegDwigнt Jul 21 '11 at 17:55

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, visit the help center for guidance. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

1 Answer 1

I would not call it morphological conversion in English, since as you say there is no change in morphology. In many languages there would need to be a change in morphology. I wonder if you are using a reference which does not primarily or solely refer to English?

share|improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_3_0": ["                  <li><a href=\"//area51.stackexchange.com\" title=\"proposing new sites in the Stack Exchange network\">Area 51</a></li>\r\n                        <li><a href=\"//careers.stackoverflow.com\">Stack Overflow Careers</a></li>\r\n                    \r\n                </ol>\r\n            </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n                </div>\r\n            </div>\r\n\r\n            <div id=\"copyright\">\r\n                site design / logo &#169; 2015 stack exchange inc; user contributions licensed under <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license\">cc by-sa 3.0</a> \r\n                with <a href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/06/attribution-required/\" rel=\"license\">attribution required</a>\r\n            </div>\r\n            <div id=\"svnrev\">\r\n                rev 2015.3.30.2412\r\n            </div>\r\n            \r\n        </div>\r\n    </div>\r\n    <noscript>\r\n        <div id=\"noscript-warning\">English Language &amp; Usage Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled<img src=\"http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-c1rF4kxgLUzNc.gif\" alt=\"\" "], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["uidance. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.\n\n1 Answer 1\n\nI would not call it morphological conversion in English, since as you say there is no change in morphology. In many languages there would need to be a change in morphology. I wonder if you are using a reference which does not primarily or solely refer to English?\n\nshare|improve this answer\n\nNot the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question."]}