Deverbal -er suffixation as the equivalent of the clausal Subject-Finite unit

Abstract

In this paper, the position is defended that deverbal -er suffixation establishes a relation between an entity and a process which is strikingly similar to the clausal Subject-Finite relation. It is first shown that nonagentive -er nominals (e.g. kneeler, squeezer, sleeper) cannot be explained as semantic extensions of the agentive prototype (e.g. sinner, preacher). Instead, the Subject analysis is argued to provide a better generalization for the agentive and nonagentive instances of -er. In particular, the various types of nonagentive -er nominals are shown to be systematically equivalent to the Subject of middle structures (e.g. this book reads slowly) and Setting-Subject constructions (e.g. this train sleeps 100 people). It is, moreover, argued that -er also construes equivalents to the basic deictic function of the finite verb in the clause, i.e. to tense and modality: lexicalized -er nominals (e.g. destroyer ‘warship’) imply a modal or potential meaning; recategorizations (e.g. the Welsh destroyer of Del Harris's hopes) are temporally linked to the speech event. The correspondences between the clausal Subject-Finite unit and -er nominalization, finally, are shown to significantly elucidate the semantics of the -er suffix.