Causativity in zero and overt nominalizations: An experimental study

We experimentally evaluate three patterns of deverbal nominalizations derived by means of zero, -ing and Romance suffixes (i.e., -(at)ion, -ment, and -ance) in English as to whether they can express causativity and anticausativity like their base verbs. We report the results of a first study which u...

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Main Authors: Gianina Iordăchioaia, Jeannique Darby
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Univerzita Karlova, Filozofická fakulta 2025-06-01
Series:Linguistica Pragensia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://linguisticapragensia.ff.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2025/05/Gianina_Iordachioaia_-_Jeannique_Darby_33-53.pdf
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author Gianina Iordăchioaia
Jeannique Darby
author_facet Gianina Iordăchioaia
Jeannique Darby
author_sort Gianina Iordăchioaia
collection DOAJ
description We experimentally evaluate three patterns of deverbal nominalizations derived by means of zero, -ing and Romance suffixes (i.e., -(at)ion, -ment, and -ance) in English as to whether they can express causativity and anticausativity like their base verbs. We report the results of a first study which uses native speaker judgments to test the acceptability of these competing nominalizing suffixes (-ing vs. zero and -ing vs. Romance suffixes) in realizing event readings with argument structure inherited from their causative, and respectively, anticausative base verbs. While previous literature claims that zero cannot realize the structurally more complex causative readings, and -ing cannot realize anticausative readings, our current results indicate that all three suffixes may realize both types of readings. This is in line with data attested in natural text corpora and suggests that zero suffixes are not necessarily structurally simpler than overt suffixes as often claimed in previous literature.
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institution OA Journals
issn 0862-8432
1805-9635
language deu
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Univerzita Karlova, Filozofická fakulta
record_format Article
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spelling doaj-art-6a659b907bb046f6a9ce60149bfa93992025-08-20T02:38:18ZdeuUniverzita Karlova, Filozofická fakultaLinguistica Pragensia0862-84321805-96352025-06-013513353https://doi.org/10.14712/18059635.2025.1.3Causativity in zero and overt nominalizations: An experimental studyGianina Iordăchioaia0Jeannique Darby1University of GrazUniversity College VoldaWe experimentally evaluate three patterns of deverbal nominalizations derived by means of zero, -ing and Romance suffixes (i.e., -(at)ion, -ment, and -ance) in English as to whether they can express causativity and anticausativity like their base verbs. We report the results of a first study which uses native speaker judgments to test the acceptability of these competing nominalizing suffixes (-ing vs. zero and -ing vs. Romance suffixes) in realizing event readings with argument structure inherited from their causative, and respectively, anticausative base verbs. While previous literature claims that zero cannot realize the structurally more complex causative readings, and -ing cannot realize anticausative readings, our current results indicate that all three suffixes may realize both types of readings. This is in line with data attested in natural text corpora and suggests that zero suffixes are not necessarily structurally simpler than overt suffixes as often claimed in previous literature.https://linguisticapragensia.ff.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2025/05/Gianina_Iordachioaia_-_Jeannique_Darby_33-53.pdfanticausativitycausativity-ing suffixnominalizationromance suffixeszero suffix
spellingShingle Gianina Iordăchioaia
Jeannique Darby
Causativity in zero and overt nominalizations: An experimental study
Linguistica Pragensia
anticausativity
causativity
-ing suffix
nominalization
romance suffixes
zero suffix
title Causativity in zero and overt nominalizations: An experimental study
title_full Causativity in zero and overt nominalizations: An experimental study
title_fullStr Causativity in zero and overt nominalizations: An experimental study
title_full_unstemmed Causativity in zero and overt nominalizations: An experimental study
title_short Causativity in zero and overt nominalizations: An experimental study
title_sort causativity in zero and overt nominalizations an experimental study
topic anticausativity
causativity
-ing suffix
nominalization
romance suffixes
zero suffix
url https://linguisticapragensia.ff.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2025/05/Gianina_Iordachioaia_-_Jeannique_Darby_33-53.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT gianinaiordachioaia causativityinzeroandovertnominalizationsanexperimentalstudy
AT jeanniquedarby causativityinzeroandovertnominalizationsanexperimentalstudy