Chapter 8. A diachronic perspective on competition in denominal verb formation in Italian

Abstract

Three derivational processes compete in the formation of Italian denominal verbs: suffixation, conversion and parasynthesis. The rivalry between these processes goes back to the early history of the Italian language. Based on the analysis of an original dataset, this chapter aims to offer a comprehensive overview of denominal verb formation in Italian from a diachronic perspective. The results of a macro-level analysis concern the availability of nouns to form verbs, the distribution of the competing verbalising processes over different diachronic stages, a comparative overview of the meanings encoded by each process, and the competition between synonymous verbs formed by means of different processes from a same noun. A micro-level analysis outlines the productivity of the specific derivational means expressing each process. The data suggest a higher differentiation of the processes over time, along with their enduring vitality, a decreased abundance of verbs derived from the same noun, and a recent growth in the employment of suffixation, which, however, does not coincide with a significant decline in the resort to either of the other two processes.