A Theory of Conversion in English

The book provides a comprehensive theory of conversion in English based on the onomasiological method of word-formation research, and on a theory of linguistic signs. The manuscript presents extensive arguments for rejecting the zero-morpheme theory. Its focus is on an original model of conversion that underlies the analysis of phonological aspects of conversion, a theory of the predictability of meanings of new coinages, the semiotic nature of conversion-related proper names, primary-secondary relations, and a number of other issues of conversion in the English language.