A Paradigmatic Approach to Conversion

The volume explores the concept of paradigm in word-formation, focusing on its applicability to Slavic morphology, with an emphasis on Czech. It examines word-formation without derivational affixes, referred to as conversion in line with the current debate. It adopts a word-based approach to morphology, using attested words as the core lexicon units and inferring their internal structure through generalisation over sets of words. The book is divided into seven chapters, starting with an introduction and a survey of the discussion on the paradigmatic nature of derivation and other word-formation processes. The concept of paradigm is traced from recent research back to the 1960s. The next chapter explains the specifics of word-formation without derivational affixes in Czech. The empirical part of the study analyses more than 2,000 noun/verb conversion pairs for their phonological, morphological, and semantic features, noting differences between paradigms with nominal vs. verbal roots and native vs. non-native roots. By relating these findings to cross-linguistic and typological debates on word-class specificity and lexical borrowability, the study shows that morphological families with non-native roots tend to favour nouns over verbs. The book is intended for professional morphologists but can also serve as an introduction to the extensive discussion on the paradigmatic approach to word-formation for linguists in general. By moving beyond the Slavic descriptive tradition, it may be particularly valuable for those interested in Slavic word-formation who find traditional descriptions challenging due to theoretical or language-related barriers. This is an open access book.