Re: Verbal noun, verbnoun, deverbal noun, gerund, infinitive

Hallo!

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:48:55 +0100, R A Brown wrote:

> Eldin Raigmore wrote:
> > Can anyone on this list settle the terminological disputes raised on the
> > thread
> > < http://www.spinnoff.com/zbb/viewtopic.php?t=25263 >
> > ?
> >
> > Is there a difference between the terminology used by linguists writing in
> > one
> > language, or whose L1 is one language, versus those who write in another
> > language, or whose L1 is another language?
>
> As far as _deverbal noun_ and _verbal noun_ are concerned, there should
> not be. IMO only carelessness in use.
>
> A _deverbal noun_ is a *noun* derived "de verbo", i.e. from a verb, e.g.
> realization <-- realize. Such as noun is a 100% noun with no verbal
> functions.
>
> A _verbal noun_, on the other hand, is any form of a verb which can
> serve as the head of a noun phrase; [...]
Yes.  It is a difference of derivation vs. inflection.  A deverbal
noun is any noun derived from a verb; a verbal noun is an inflectional
form of a verb that acts like a noun (about the same way a participle
is an inflectional form of a verb that acts like an adjective).
Deverbal nouns warrant dictionary entries; verbal nouns, usually not.

> ["infinitive" and "gerund" being language-specific]
>
> As for _verbnoun_, I have met this *only* with reference to the modern
> Insular Celtic languages. I guess the term was coined because the verbal
> noun (for that is what it is) does not quite like an English infinitive
> nor an English gerund - i.e. to distinguish its function from the verbal
> nouns of English. Whether this was, from a linguistic point of view, a
> good thing to do or not, is another matter.
>
> But IMO to use the term 'verbnoun' for a feature in some other language
> other than the Insular Celtic languages one should show good reason.
AFMCL, Old Albic has a single verbal noun which I usually just call
the "verbal noun"; it is somewhat modelled on the Celtic "verbnouns"
and may perhaps qualify as one.  (See my recent post on the syntax
of the Old Albic verbal noun.)

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