Deverbal

Deverbal nouns are nouns that are derived from verbs or verb phrases. The formation of deverbal nouns is a type of nominalization (noun formation). Examples of deverbal nouns in English include ''organization'' (derived from the verb ''organize''), the noun ''construct'' (from the verb ''construct'' ), ''discovery'' (from the verb ''discover''), and ''opening'' (in the sense of 'aperture') from the verb ''open''.

Distinction between deverbal nouns, verbal nouns, and gerunds in English

In English, the ''deverbal noun'' stands in contrast with the ''verbal noun'' and the ''gerund''.

A verbal noun has the same verb+''ing'' form as a participle or gerund. Syntactically, unlike a gerund, a verbal noun functions purely as a noun; it cannot take adverbs or objects. Semantically, like a gerund, a verbal noun directly names the action described by the verb, as in ''Brown's deft painting of his daughter is wonderful'', which describes the way that Brown paints, ''the building of the bridge took 20 years'', which relates to the process of building, or ''the opening of the crypt'', which relates to the act or process of opening the crypt.

A deverbal noun in English is formed either by conversion (''turn''), by suffixation (''decision''), or other modifications (''speech''). Unlike verbal nouns, the meanings of deverbal nouns cannot be predicted mechanically from the verb; one must, so to speak, look in the dictionary (they are ''lexicalized'').

While the ''-ing'' suffix is one manner of creating deverbal nouns, such deverbal nouns differ from verbal nouns. Deverbal nouns with ''-ing'' often describe the results of actions (''building'' in ''the building is tall'', ''painting'' in ''the painting was stolen'', or ''opening'' in ''the opening was wide'') or events, such as ''meeting'' in ''the meeting was effective.''

A verbal noun is an abstract uncountable noun while a deverbal noun can be either countable or uncountable.

Verbal nouns and deverbal nouns are distinct syntactic word classes. Functionally, deverbal nouns operate as autonomous common nouns, while verbal nouns retain verbal characteristics. (A similar distinction can be made between verbal adjectives – such as participles used verbally – and deverbal adjectives.)

The distinction between verbal nouns and gerunds is illustrated in the following English sentences, in which words derived from verbs by adding ''-ing'' behave sometimes as gerunds, and sometimes as verbal nouns. (Further information can be found in the article on ''-ing''.)
* ''Catching fish is fun.''
:: Here ''catching'' is a gerund; it takes an object (''fish''), like the verb ''catch''.
* ''Shouting loudly is enjoyable.''
:: Here ''shouting'' is a gerund; it is modified by the adverb ''loudly'', like the verb ''shout''.
* ''Loud shouting makes me angry.''
:: Here ''shouting'' is a verbal noun; it is modified by an adjective ''loud'' (like a noun such as ''music'').

Sometimes (particularly when the ''-ing'' word is used alone without modifiers) the matter is ambiguous, although there may be a difference in meaning depending on whether it is intended as a verbal noun or gerund. Consider the sentence:
* ''Shouting is nice.''
Here ''shouting'' could be either a gerund or a verbal noun. If it is intended as a gerund, it can be assumed to mean that shouting is nice for the person doing the shouting (''To shout is nice'' and ''Shouting loudly is nice.'') On the other hand, if intended as a verbal noun, it can be assumed to mean that shouting is nice for those experiencing the shouting. (Compare sentences in which the subject is unambiguously a verbal noun, such as ''Loud shouting is nice.'')

Semantic types

Deverbal nouns may be categorized semantically according to what facet of the process (that the verb refers to) they denote, that is, what facet of the process is reified (construed as a thing). Examples are:
*Nouns denoting an activity, such as ''running'', ''relaxation''
*Nouns denoting a specific action, such as ''murder'', ''discovery'' (in many cases a noun may refer to either a single action or a general activity, depending on context)
* Agent nouns, such as ''invader'', ''singer''
*Patient nouns, denoting the party to whom or for whom something is done, such as ''draftee'', ''employee''
*Nouns denoting manner, such as ''walk'' in ''She has a funny walk''
*Nouns denoting an ability, such as ''speech'' in ''She regained her speech''
*Nouns denoting a result, such as ''dent'', ''scratch''
*Nouns denoting an object or system of objects, such as ''building'', ''fencing'', ''piping''.

When words are derived by conversion, it may not be clear whether a noun is derived from a verb or vice versa. This is common in English; examples of words that are both verbs and nouns (with related meanings) are ''bruise'', ''hope'', ''rain'', ''work'', etc. See also initial-stress-derived noun.

By language

French

There are two connotations of the deverbal nouns: the one formed without any suffix (e.g.: '' abat'' from '' abattre''), or any noun descending from a verb.

Hindi

Some verbs can be made into nouns by adding certain suffixes. E.g. रोना (to cry) + दू = रोंदू (someone who cries).

Indonesian

Nouns in Indonesian can be nominalized from a verb using suffix "-an", prefix "peng-", or circumfixes "ke- -an" (ke- prefix), "peng- -an", and "per- -an" (per- prefix), for example (e.g.: the verb '' bangun'' could be affixed into "bangun-an", "pem-bangun", "ke-bangun-an", "pem-bangun-an", ).

Japanese

In Japanese, verbal nouns are treated (grammatically and orthographically) as verb forms, while deverbal nouns are treated as nouns. This is reflected in okurigana (following characters), which are used for verb conjugation and, similarly, for verbal nouns, but not for deverbal nouns. For example, , , (''hana-su,'' ''hana-shi,'' ''hanashi'') are the verb, nominalized verb (VN), and deverbal noun (DVN) of "converse", "conversation (the act)", "conversation (the episode)" – the first two are written with following hiragana characters (, ), as verb forms, while the latter is written without following characters, as a noun. A more dramatic example is found in , , (''kō-ru,'' ''kō-ri,'' ''kōri''), meaning "freeze", "freezing", "ice (literally: freezing)", where the verbal origins are more distant from the current use of the noun.

Mandarin Chinese

Chinese is a morphologically deficient language. Many of the nouns denoting an action can be used as a verb without morphological change. For example, ''yanjiu'' ‘research’ can be used as a noun and a verb depending on syntactic context.

See also

* Denominal verb

Reference

4. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman Publication. Page. 1288 (Chapter 17) {{lexical categories, state=collapsed

Nouns by type