On Semantic Grammaticalization of English Nouns

This paper mainly analyzes the means and the results of the semantic grammaticalization of English nouns.The semantic grammaticalization of English nouns refers to the process in which English nouns with concrete meanings change gradually into nouns or morphemes with more abstract grammatical meanings or functions.Metaphor,metonymy and subjectivitisation which play an important role in the course of semantic grammaticalization of English nouns are the important means of grammaticalization while grammaticalization mainly results in the generation of new meanings,the transformation of old meanings as well as the extension and narrowing of meanings.