This work intends to provide new insights on a controversial word-formation phenomenon or process known as conversion or zero-derivation. It offers a critical review of previous theories and approaches to this subject but it also attempts to provide a new definition, discusses the appropriateness of using one term or the other to name the phenomenon, and identifies its main characteristics. For doing so, it discusses issues such as whether (1.) the category or word-class change is a strictly necessary condition, (2.) priority is to be given to the syntactic function or rather to the change of word-class, and (3.) the result of the process is a derived word, two different and independent units or rather, one form with two clearly differentiated units. Moreover, this study delimits conversion versus other linguistic phenomena with apparently similar results (levelling, ellipsis, shortening, among others), and discusses its different types or classifications (partial and total conversion, and change of secondary word-class). The conclusion is that, despite the appearance of being a "jack-in-the-box" or a "dumping ground" in which any linguistic process involving two formally identical elements may be included, conversion can be both delimited and distinguished from other phenomena with (apparent) similar results.The book has been awarded the national prize "Leocadio Martín Mingorance" de Lengua y Lingüística inglesas (XII edición), the English Language and Linguistics prize "Leocadio Martín Mingorance" (12th edition). This prize is awarded by AEDEAN: Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-norteamericanos (Spanish Association for English and American Studies).

Isabel Balteiro describes the three main problems that the word-formation process know as conversion presents, namely those related to its definition, its delimitation, and its directionality. The latter constitutes, however, the main focus of the study.

The Anglia Book Series (ANGB) offers a selection of high quality work on all areas and aspects of English philology. It publishes book-length studies and essay collections on English language and linguistics, on English and American literature and culture from the Middle Ages to the present, on the new English literatures, as well as on general and comparative literary studies, including aspects of cultural and literary theory.

Adjectives can be used as nouns in English as well as in German. In Modern German, however, they can assume a greater variety of forms than is possible in Modern English, partly as a result of the loss of inflectional endings in English; e.g. Modern German [i]gut – das Gut, das Gute, der Gute, die Gute, die Guten, die Güter[/i] (also [i]die Güte, die Gutheit)[/i] versus Modern English [i]good – the good, the goods[/i] (also [i]goodness).[/i] With regard to this phenomenon, two issues deserve attention: first of all, the historical development of adjectives as nouns in English and, secondly, their linguistic classification. The merit of this study is that it undertakes the first detailed analysis of this phenomenon with the aid of corpus material. The investigation leads to intriguing conclusions that combine several linguistic levels of description, and that break with traditional concepts of rigid word-classes in favor of a theory of degrees of »adjectiviness« and »nouniness«.

For a good orientation into the history of English grammar, several books are indispensable. One of those is Mustanoja’s A Middle English Syntax. However, for a long time this work was not readily available; the present edition changes that. This is a fac simile reprint from the 1960 publication which appeared as volume XXIII in ‘Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki’, with a new Introduction by Elly van Gelderen. Compared to Old English, Middle English has fewer grammars and textbooks devoted to it. This book provides an interesting supplement by going deeper into certain questions and, especially, into exceptions. The book points out differences with Old English and certain peculiarities of the Middle English system. It was originally written for students of Middle English literature but serves a linguist well in detailed descriptions of the parts of speech, the use of the various cases, gender, and number. Word order, complex sentences, and conjunctions were meant to be dealt with in a second volume, which was never published.

Perhaps the first truly important book about the divergence of American English from its British roots, this survey of the language as it was spoken-and as it was changing-at the beginning of the 20th century comes via one of its most inveterate watchers, journalist, critic, and editor HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN (1880-1956).In this replica of the 1921 "revised and enlarged" second edition, Mencken turns his keen ear on: • the general character of American English • loan-words and non-English influences • expletives and forbidden words • American slang • the future of the language • and much, much more. Anyone fascinated by words will find this a thoroughly enthralling look at the most changeable language on the face of the planet.

No detailed description available for "A Bibliography of Writings for the History of the English Language".

Morphological typology is usually limited to the realm of grammar. Accordingly, English is considered an analytic language due to its poor grammatical morphology – but what about the lexicon? Taking a twofold approach, this study investigates the typological development of English nouns since 1150. First, the focus is on the means used to extend the lexicon: Correlating the central noun formation processes as well as borrowing reveals, for the first time, their quantitative importance – with some surprising results. Second, the structure of the lexicon takes center stage: The morphological analysis of all nouns uncovers diachronic shifts – and striking parallels between grammar and lexicon.