Nominalization

In linguistics, nominalization or nominalisation is the use of a word which is not a noun (e.g. a verb, an adjective or an adverb) as a
noun, or as the head of a noun phrase, with or without morphological transformation. The term refers, for instance, to the process of
producing a noun from anotherpart of speech by adding a derivational affix (e.g., the noun legalization from the verb legalize).[1]

Some languages simply allow verbs to be used as nouns without inflectional difference (conversion or zero derivation), while others
require some form of morphological transformation. English has cases of both.

Nominalization is a natural part of language, but some instances of it are more noticeable than others. Writing advice sometimes
focuses on avoiding uncritical overuse of nominalization.

Contents
In various languages
English
With derivational morphology
With zero-derivation
Other Indo-European languages
Chinese
Japanese
Hawaiian
Zero-derivation in other languages
See also
Notes
References

In various languages

English
Two types of nominalization are found in English. One type requires the addition of a derivational suffix to create a noun. In other
cases, English uses the same word as a noun without any additional morphology. This second process is referred to as zero-
derivation.

With derivational morphology

This is a process by which a grammatical expression is turned into a noun phrase. For example, in the sentence "Combine the two
chemicals," combine acts as a verb. This can be turned into a noun via the addition of -ation, as in "The experiment involved the
combination of the two chemicals."

Examples of nouns formed from adjectives:

applicability (from applicable)

carelessness (from careless)
difficulty (from difficult)
intensity (from intense)
Examples of nouns formed from verbs:

failure (from fail)

nominalization (from nominalize)
investigation (from investigate)
movement (from move)
reaction (from react)
refusal (from refuse)
An especially common case of verbs being used as nouns is the addition of the suf
fix -ing, known in English as agerund.

swimming (from swim)

running (from run)
editing (from edit)

With zero-derivation
Some verbs and adjectives in English can be used directly as nouns without the addition of a derivational suffix. Some examples
include:

change

I need a change. (change = noun)

I will change. (change = verb)
murder

The murder of the man was tragic.(murder = noun)

He will murder the man.(murder = verb)
In addition to true zero-derivation, English also has a number of words which, depending on subtle changes in pronunciation, are
either nouns or verbs. One such type, which is rather pervasive, is the change in stress placement from the final syllable of the word
to the first syllable (seeInitial-stress-derived noun).

increase

Profits have shown a large increase.(increase /ˈɪŋkriːs/ = noun)

Profits will continue to increase.(increase /ɪŋˈkriːs/ = verb)
An additional case is seen with the verbuse, which has a different pronunciation when used as a noun.

use

The use of forks is dangerous.(use /ˈjuːs/ = noun)

Use your fork! (use /ˈjuːz/ = verb)
In some circumstances, adjectives can have nominal use, as inthe poor to mean poor people in general. Seenominalized adjective.

Other Indo-European languages

Many Indo-European languages have separate inflectional morphology for nouns, verbs, and adjectives, but often this is no
impediment to nominalization, as the root or stem of the adjective is readily stripped of its adjectival inflections and bedecked with
nominal inflections—sometimes even with dedicated nominalizing suffixes. For example, Latin has a number of nominalization
suffixes, and some of these suffixes have been borrowed into English, either directly or through Romance languages. Other examples
can be seen in German—such as the subtle inflectional differences between deutsch (adj) and Deutsch (noun) across genders,
numbers, and cases—although which lexical category came first may be moot. Spanish and Portuguese, whose o/os/a/as inflections
commonly mark both adjectives and nouns, shows a very permeable boundary as many roots straddle the lexical categories of
adjective and noun (with little or no inflectional dif
ference).
Chinese
In all varieties of Chinese, particles are used to nominalize verbs and adjectives. In Mandarin, the most common is 的 de, which is
attached to both verbs and adjectives. For example, 吃 chī (to eat) becomes 吃的 chīde (that which is eaten). Cantonese uses 嘅 ge in
the same capacity, while Minnan uses ê.

Two other particles, found throughout the Chinese varieties, are used to explicitly indicate the nominalized noun as being either the
agent or patient of the verb being nominalized. 所 (suǒ in Mandarin) is attached before the verb to indicate patient, e.g. 吃 (to eat)
becomes 所吃 (that which is eaten), and者 (zhě in Mandarin) are attached after the verb to indicate agent, e.g. 吃 (to eat) becomes 吃
者 (he who eats). Both particles date fromClassical Chinese and retain limited productivity in modern Chinese varieties.

There are also many words with zero-derivation. For instance, 教育 jiàoyù is both verb (to educate) and noun (education). Other
cases include 变化 biànhuà (v. to change; n. change), 保护 bǎohù (v. to protect; n. protection), 恐惧 kǒngjù (v. to fear; n. fear; adj.
fearful), etc.

Japanese
Japanese grammar makes frequent use of nominalization (instead of relative pronouns) via several particles such as の no, も の
mono and こと koto.

Hawaiian
In Hawaiian, the particle ʻana is used to nominalize. For example, "hele ʻana" is Hawaiian for "coming." Hence, "his coming" is
"kona hele ʻana."

Zero-derivation in other languages

A few languages allow finite clauses to be nominalized without morphological transformation. For instance in Eastern
Shina (Gultari)
the finite clause [mo buje-m] 'I will go' can appear as the nominalized object of the postposition [-jo] 'from' with no modification in
form:

[mo buje-m]-jo muçhore

I go-1sg-from before
ŗo buje-i
he go-3sg
"He will go before I go."

See also
Nominal (word)
Pronominal
Initial-stress-derived noun
Deverbal noun
Verbal noun
List of plain English words and phrases

Notes
1. Kolln, M. 1998, Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects
, p.63

References
 Shibatani, Masayoshi, and Khaled Awadh Bin Makhashen. 2009. Nominalization in Soqotri, a South Arabian
language of Yemen. In W. Leo Wetzels (ed.) Endangered languages: Contributions to Morphology and Morpho-
syntax. Leiden: Brill. 9-31.
Kolln, M. (1990), Understanding English Grammar
, 3rd edn, Macmillan, p. 179.
Nominalization by Particle Koto in Japanese, Benri Nihongo
Colomb, Joseph M. Williams; with two chapters coauthored by Gregory G. (1995).
Style: toward clarity and grace
(Paperback ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN 0226899152.

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