From event to result in English -ation: Insights from comparison with -er

This article examines the English suffix -ation within a hybrid Scenario Model (SM) and Relational Morphology (RM) framework. We claim that -ation lexicalizes a compact “event-plus-result” mini-scenario inherited from Latin -ātiō. The derived noun thus evokes both the unfolding process and the state or p roduct that follows it. Derivation begins with an SM f ilter. Only verbs that denote an extended activity naturally culminating in an outcome can host the suffix. Surviving candidates enter the RM network, where each verb family is represented by a mother schema containing open role variables. For -er, the mother schema consists of a single semantic variable. Speakers then freely instantiate it as Agent, Instrument, Location, and other participant roles, which explains the suffix’s broad semantic range. By contrast, -ation adds an intermediate Event mother schema whose only daughter is Result. Consequently, the lattice stops once the Process and its outcome are recorded. If a potential reading is already realized by an entrenched schema, RM records no additional -ation sister, leaving further readings idiosyncratic. The model also accounts for the rare Instrument and plantation-type -ation Location nouns. They arise t hrough a metonymic hop from t he Result node and persist only when no rival form occupies that semantic slot.