The high rigidity of " 'f'('x')" organization [...] is universally counterbalanced by the availability of grammatical devices for transforming 'f'-signs into 'x'-signs and vice versa. We are referring to the semiotic effect of deriving verbals from nouns or noun-phrases, nominals from verb-phrases and sentences ― the “stativations” and “verbations” [...] graphically sketched by Whorf [...].
- Weinreich (1963), a pag.138-139