Date:    Wed, 18 Mar 1998 16:56:14 -0800
<br>From:    Devon Coles  dcoles[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HORIZON.BC.CA 
<br>Subject: Re: arbitrariness of derivational morphology
<br>
<br> On Wed, 18 Mar 1998, RonButters wrote:
<br> 
<br>   "Why can't CONTEMPT be made into a verb in English?" asked my Turkish
<br>student.
<br>   "And why can't DESPISE be made into a noun?" English is so very flexib=
<br>le
<br>when
<br>   it comes to interchanging categories--with and without derivational
<br>   morphology--one wonders why we can't say, "*David feels the sailor's
<br>   despise/despisation for him" or "*Giovanni contempts/contemptates
<br>Jacques."
<br>  
<br>   Any answers--other than the usual language-is-arbitrary response?
<br> 
<br>Tom Head responded:
<br> There's no reason why it can't.  I think that "despise" as a noun may be=
<br> a
<br> little too awkward for my tastes, but "contempt" as a verb seems profoun=
<br>d
<br> and very useful.  I may very well use it in this manner myself now that =
<br>I
<br> have read your post, when I am not writing formal papers (which I
<br> contempt).
<br>
<br>My guess is that the noun =91contempt' and the verb =91contemn' are relat=
<br>ed. I
<br>had no trouble finding =91despisement' (as a noun related to the verb
<br>=91despise')  in my 1981 Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, but note wi=
<br>th
<br>interest that my brand new 9th Edition Oxford Concise Dictionary doesn't
<br>include this noun at all.
<br>There must be a more fundamental answer, though. Looking at synonyms for
<br>contempt lead me to the same question about why they can't be made into
<br>verbs. I'm thinking of words like sarcasm, arrogance, aversion, haughtine=
<br>ss,
<br>impiety, irony, irreverence, revulsion and sacrilege. He sarcasted me?
<br>Milords arroganced one another? Hmm....
<br>
<br>Cheers,
<br>Devon Coles
<br>dcoles[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]horizon.bc.ca
<br>