Words that are their opposites: Noun to verb conversion in English

Abstract

This article investigates the semantic properties of English denominal locative verbs, exploring specifically their capability of expressing opposite meanings. Locative denominal verbs pattern themselves systematically into distinct groups based on underlying syntactic behavior as well as on the semantic property of affectedness on noun arguments. The article argues that the properties of affectedness, agenthood, and the notion of preexisting state constrain the possible semantics of these verbs and shed some light on the way these verbs are organized in our mental lexicon around denominals prefixed by the morphemes un- and de-.