On the borders of conversion

Abstract The process usually known as conversion involves a number of descriptive levels that exceed what is usual in word-formation: orthographical, phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic requirements give shape to a profile that, precisely because of the varied preconditions at play, may match or overlap to some extent the result of other processes, or occur in words of a different kind. As a result, the literature has often discussed the limits of conversion and/or has presented conversion as a process that may apply in full or partially, according to how many and which of the preconditions are met. This paper presents and discusses the cases that are not central or major conversion in English (albeit with projections to other languages), and argues the extent to which each of the neighbouring profiles can be viewed as word-formation or not. The discussion leads to dissimilar standpoints, whereby the words formed by conversion can be viewed as a clear-cut group, or a group with blurred boundaries according to the theoretical positions taken in various regards. The inherent difficulty of this outcome applies in English, but also in languages that have their own specific preconditions (and their repercussions), and still are burdened with the descriptive difficulties of English.