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1. THE CONCEPT OF NOMINALIZATION<br />

constraints of the grammar in question” (Chomsky 1970: 185), the surface structure, that<br />

is, the phonetic interpretation is determined. Deep structure seeks to unify several related<br />

constructions. For instance, an active sentence and its passive counterpart have the same<br />

deep structure, but a different surface structure. The fact that verbal –ing nominals have<br />

both nominal and verbal properties is explained under this analysis by saying that verbal<br />

–ing formations involve a grammatical transformation from an underlying sentence-like<br />

structure (Chomsky 1970: 187).<br />

1.2.2.4. Discourse role<br />

Since the previous criteria do not serve to account for all possible instances of a given<br />

category, Hopper and Thompson (1984: 708) introduce the criterion of “discourse role.”<br />

According to this view, linguistic forms lack categoriality, and nounhood or verbhood is<br />

forced on them by discourse. In this sense, the categories of noun and verb are not<br />

“given” aprioristically to construct sentences out of them. On the contrary, they manifest<br />

themselves only when the discourse requires it. The fact that the noun fox in example (6)<br />

below is a prototypical noun does not have to do so much with the fact that it is a visible<br />

object but with the role it plays in the discourse.<br />

(6) Early in the chase the hounds started up an old red fox, and we<br />

hunted him all morning. (Hopper and Thompson 1984: 708)<br />

Hopper and Thompson (1984: 708) thus propose that “the extent to which prototypical<br />

nounhood is achieved is a function of the degree to which the form in question serves to<br />

introduce a participant into the discourse.” Later on, in their 1985 article on the iconicity<br />

of universal categories, Hopper and Thompson reintroduce the issue of discourse role,<br />

18

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