nounmaking

Nounmaking is the process of forming nouns from other lexical categories, broadly overlapping with nominalization. It covers productive methods that convert verbs, adjectives, or other words into new nouns, as well as affixation, compounding, and related derivational processes. In some treatments, nominalization refers specifically to turning events or clauses into nouns, while nounmaking can have a wider scope that includes various ways to create noun forms.

Common mechanisms:

- Derivation with affixes: English frequently uses suffixes such as -ness, -ity, -tion, -ment, -er, -or, -age, -hood, and -ship to form nouns from other stems (happiness, reality, creation, government, teacher, courage, passage, childhood).

- Conversion (zero-derivation): a word changes category without overt affixation, as in run being used as a noun (a run) or wait (the wait).

- Compounding: combining words to yield a noun, e.g., bookcase, snowball.

- Denominal and deverbal formation: nouns can be formed from verbs or other nouns to express agents, instruments, or abstract terms (printer from print, courage from courageous).

Functions and usage:

Nounmaking yields concrete nouns, abstract nouns, agents, or instruments, enabling syntax as subjects or objects and as modifiers within noun phrases. It allows concise expressions of processes, qualities, or events and can influence nuance, such as emphasizing result (creation) or process (creating).

Cross-linguistic notes:

Productivity and preferred strategies vary by language. Some languages rely on rich affixation; others depend on compounding or syntactic nominalization of clauses. Understanding nounmaking aids morphology, lexicography, and language teaching.