Less is more: Diachronic evidence for efficient communication in English noun-to-verb conversion over the past centuryLess is more: Diachronic evidence for efficient communication in English noun-to-verb conversion over the past century

Abstract: Conversion exemplifies one of the most productive word-formation processes in English. Yet how this phenomenon has evolved over time and what factors drive its development remain underexplored. This study investigates changes in noun-to-verb conversion degree and the semantic, morpho-phonological, stylistic and frequency-based factors shaping this process. Using data from the Corpus of Historical American English, we analyzed 637 noun-to-verb conversion pairs from the 1920s to the 2010s and modeled their trajectories with generalized linear mixed effects models. Results reveal a significant increase in conversion degree over time. This reflects a reconfiguration of how efficient communication is achieved, whereby categorical information is increasingly conveyed by context rather than overt morphological marking. We further found that nouns with higher semantic diversity, lower concreteness, lower frequency and shorter phonological forms display stronger tendencies toward verbal expansion. These lexical properties jointly determine how firmly a noun is anchored at the nominal pole of the noun–verb continuum. Overall, the findings portray the dynamics of conversion as a product of communicative pressures, allowing the English lexicon to achieve greater expressivity with fewer but more flexible forms.

摘要： 转类是英语中最能产的构词过程之一，但这一现象如何随时间演变、受哪些因素驱动，目前仍缺乏充分研究。本研究考察名转动转类度的变化，以及影响这一过程的语义、形态音系、语体和频率因素。我们基于美国历史英语语料库（COHA），分析了 1920 年代至 2010 年代的 637 对名转动转类词，并用广义线性混合效应模型对其演变轨迹建模。结果显示，转类度随时间显著上升。这反映出高效交际实现方式的重构：词类信息越来越多地由语境传递，而非依靠显性形态标记。我们还发现，语义多样性更高、具体性更低、频率更低、语音形式更短的名词，更倾向于向动词扩展。这些词汇属性共同决定了一个名词在名—动连续统上“扎根”于名词一端的牢固程度。总体而言，研究表明转类的动态演变是交际压力作用的结果，使英语词库得以用更少但更灵活的形式实现更强的表达力。