Some other patterns of conversion can be mentioned.
Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal substantives) can express
Conversion
In most cases, only several criteria can convincingly classify a lexical unit as either a compound word or a word group.
Graphic - solid or hyphenated spelling
airline, air-line, air line
2) Phonological – stress
'ice-cream (compound) vs. 'ice 'cream (free phrase)
but this rule does not hold with adjectives: 'gray-'green, 'easy-'going
Besides, stress can differentiate the meaning of compounds:
man'kind "the human race" and 'mankind "men contrasted with women"
3) Semantic– a compound expresses a single idea which is not identical in meaning to the sum of the meanings of its components in a free phrase.
Tallboy does not even denote a person, but a piece of furniture
! Butthe semantic criterion alone cannot prove anything as phraseological units also convey a single concept.
4) Morphological –a compound is stable
a tallboy -a tall and handsome boy
a tallboy –a tallestboy(не может быть)
5) syntactic– a compound has one function in the sentence: There is a tallboy in the corner.
Conversionis an extremely productive way of forming words in Modern English (knife - to knife, to take - a take).
It is treated differently in linguistic literature.
Some linguists define it as a morphological way of forming words (Smirnitsky, Ginzburg), treating conversion as the formation of a new word through changes in its paradigm.
Others (Arnold) consider it to be a morphological -syntactic word-building method, because it involves the semantic change, a change of the paradigm and a change of the syntactic function of the word.
A purely syntactic approach (functional approach) to conversion is popular with linguists in Great Britain and the USA. They define conversion as a kind of functional change.
1. Verbs converted from nouns (denominal verbs) can express:
a) an action characteristic of the object:
ape - to ape (behave as apes do);
b) instrumental use of the object:
screw - to screw ('fasten with a screw');
c) acquisition or addition of the object:
fish - to fish;
d) deprivation of the object:
dust - to dust ('remove dust from something'),
skin - to skin ('strip off the skin').
a) instance of the action:
to jump - jump, to move - move;
b) agent of the action:
to help - help 'a person who helps';
c) place of the action:
to drive - drive 'a path/road along which one drives‘;
d) object or result of the action:
to peel - peel 'the outer skin of fruit taken off.
3. Adjectives > Nouns: supernatural, impossible, inevitable;
4. Participle > Adjectives: a standing man / rule, running water.
Butnot all the pairs of such words can be formed by conversion. Some of them arose:
(1) as a result of the loss of endings in the course of the historical developments of the English language: love, hate, rest, smell, work, end, answer, care, drink,
(2) assimilation of borrowings: check, cry, doubt, change.
Some linguists (Smirnitsky, Arbekova) call them patterned homonymy.