incent : a big SOTA

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:40 PM -0600 1/26/06, Matthew Gordon wrote:
>Isn't it the case that derivational suffixes normally block functional
>shift?

Or vice versa, whichever came first (as established in the lexicon)
in a particular case.  The classic example is Kiparsky's observation
that the established "drill" (denoting the instrument) blocks that
meaning for "driller" (which thus denotes an agent), while the
established "cook" (with an agent meaning) blocks that meaning for
"cooker" (which thus denotes an instrument).  To be sure, there are
many cases that don't work this neatly, but it is an elegant minimal
pair.

Larry

>Faced with the very unverby 'incentive', these "insufficiently
>fluent" people simply got rid of the bit that marked it as unverby.
>

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