The Slovene Development of Meanings in Deverbal Nouns,with Particular Reference to the Verbal Noun

Abstract

The verbal noun with the word-formational meaning of Action (De) as an ordinary substantival derivative from a verb by suffixation was classifed as early as A. Bohorič, who used the term glagolje. Acertain stagnation and deviation from progress toward a theory of word-formation is the treatment of substantival derivatives based on gender by M. Pohlin and O. Gutsman. Nevertheless, the fact that gender as a distributional criterion of a complex word is such a recurrent feature also demonstrates the importance of the syntactic base with expressed gender -- so the syntactic base represents an intermediate grammatical transformational phase between a complex word and its semantic base.

The true beginning of Slovene word-formation is represented by V.Vodnik with the description of word-formational meanings of substantival derivatives from verbs. Further developments in word-formation are observed in Dajnko's and Metelko's grammars. F. Metelko had taken J. Dobrovsky as a model, and P. Dajnko introduced the term Ableitung for ordinary derivation by suffixation.

A normative view of the treatment of the verbal noun is represented by F. Levstik with the terms glagolšček or glagolsko ime, which may substitute for the infinitive.

Slovene word-formation was recognized as an independent linguistic field by F. Miklošič. His theory of word-formation revealed the relationship meaning : form. A comprehensive inventory of suffixal formants represents all word-formational meanings, including the possible metonymic meaning shifts of derivatives. Miklošič had also pointed out of the relationship between word-formation andsyntax, and thus to him we may ascribe the concept of syntactic word-formation.

The formational peculiarities of verbal nouns and of other substantival derivatives with respect to verbal aspect and (in)transitive verbs are presented by R. Perušek, A. Breznik and A.Bajec. Finally, all suffixal formants are classified in twenty-four groups.

Today the research of J. Toporišič and A. Vidovič Muha are based on the cause and effect relationship between syntax and word-formation and their research opens new possibilities for further research in Slovene word-formation theory.