5.

5 NOUNS DERIVED FROM MEMBERS OF OTHER WORD CLASSES

Suffixes used to derived nouns from adjective

-ity, e.g. Purity, equality, ferocity, sensitivity -ness, e.g. Goodness, tallness, fierceness, sensitiveness -ism, e.g. Radicalism, conservatism

Suffixes for deriving nouns from verbs

-ance, -ence, e.g. Performance, ignorance, reference, convergence -ment, e.g. Announcement, commitment, development, engagement -ing, e.g. Painting, singing, building, ignoring -((a)t)ion, e.g. denunciation, commission, organisation, confusion -al, e.g. Refusal, arrival, referral, committal -er, e.g. Painter, singer, organiser, grinder

Non-affixal ways of deriving abstract nouns (other than conversion)

Change in the position of the stress, e.g. Nouns PRMIT, TRNSFER alongside verbs PRMIT
TRNSFER.

In the final consonant, e.g. Nouns BELIEF, PROOF, DEFENCE alongside verbs BELIEVE, PROVE, DEFEND. Change in a vowel, e.g. Nouns SONG, SEAT alongside SING, SIT.

By contrast with some language, the derivational use that English makes of vowel change is minimal. Languages that exploit it much more consistently are members of the Semitic family, such as Arabic and Hebrew.