Agent Nominalizations

Abstract

This is a survey entry on agent nominalizations. It will discuss controversial issues surrounding their interpretation and formation. An important part of the discussion will be devoted to the differences and similarities between agent nominalizations and other derived nominals that license argument structure, which are labelled complex event nominals by Grimshaw. Agent nominalizations will also be compared to instrumental nominalizations, as in many languages the same affix that builds agent nominalizations is also used for the formation of instrumental nominals. Finally, the entry will address the question of the reduced mixed properties of agent nominalizations and present Baker and Vinokurova's typology, according to which, agent nominalizations seem to come in just two types across languages.