1. An Investigation of Conversion in English Zack Warmke

2. Introduction: Research Area Conversion: The use of a word from one part of speech as another without derivational affixation. – Sometimes common: water the plants – Sometimes not: cookie me (hand me a cookie)

3. Aim/Justification Native speakers frequently convert words – We do so purely from intuition Studies have looked at conversion (Kiparsky, Velasco) but their research is incomplete I want to build from their studies

4. References Velasco, D. (2009). Conversion in English and its implications for Functional Discourse Grammar. Lingua, 119(8), 1164-1185. Kiparsky, P., 1997. Remarks on denominal verbs. Argument Structure. CSLI, Stanford, pp. 473–499. Baltiero, Isabel (2007). The Directionality of Conversion in English: A Dia- Synchronic Study. Linguistic Insights - Studies in Language and Communication, 59, 7-27 Gottfurcht, Carolyn A (2008). Denominal verb formation in English. Dissertation Abstracts International, A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 69, 03, 0957 Horobin, Simon (2009). Traditional English? Chaucerian Methods of Word-Formation. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 110, 2, 141-157

5. Research Questions Where and how does Kiparsky’s data work? Where and how does it not? What generalizations about conversion can we make?

6. Methodology Subjects/Sources – Adult, native English speakers for questionnaires Instruments – A questionnaire measuring acceptability of various converted items. Items will come from Kiparsky’s data and I will create more based on his theory Procedure – Administer questionnaire, examine findings to answer research questions

7. Data Analysis Questionnaire will ask if items make sense – Eg, “String him up with rope!” I will use a gradient scale, ranging from “makes no sense” to “sounds perfectly fine” When done, I will examine the results to see trends, measure the success of Kiparsky’s theory.

8. Limitations It’s possible the data won’t reveal anything revolutionary Limited to noun-verb, verb-noun conversion

9. Expected Findings Kiparsky and Velasco are mostly right, and I will be able to fill the gaps in their research. I expect to be able to make some broad generalizations about conversion. This is a small study; I expect to raise as many questions as I answer.