Abstract
From the theoretical perspective of lexical morphology (LM), this paper analyzes neutral and non-neutral affixes and their general organizational position in the morphology of derived words in Urdu. It explores the properties and behavior that Urdu affixes exercise during their attachment or insertion into roots/bases to produce new words, to question the assumptions of LM. Nine hundred and eighty sample words were randomly selected from our observations, articles in Urdu newspapers, and Urdu news television channels in Pakistan. While LM helps a lot regarding the analysis of neutral and non-neutral affixes, its assumptions concerning the hierarchical organization of affixes in derived word-formations do not correspond with the morphology of words in Urdu. This paper contributes as an initial step toward formulating a theory of the morphology of derived words in Urdu – a language rarely theoretically analyzed regarding the morphology of its derived words.
Highlights
This paper primarily focuses on whether the general derivational behavior of words in Urdu corresponds to the theoretical assumptions of Lexical Morphology (LM), which was developed from the general derivational and inflectional behavior of words in English
Though we are conscious of the Persian or Arabic or Sanskrit source of the affixes, we do not give this much importance; rather, we focus our efforts on the analysis of their usual effect on the root word within the derivational process and their structural position within the derived word in Urdu
It is very important to underline that this paper considers only those affixes as non-neutral that have a major effect on the root words; this means such affixes within the process of derivation cause any addition, deletion, replacement or mutation of some consonant/vowel segment, or shift of stress in the root/base word
Summary
This paper primarily focuses on whether the general derivational behavior of words in Urdu corresponds to the theoretical assumptions of Lexical Morphology (LM), which was developed from the general derivational and inflectional behavior of words in English. Through an analysis of the properties of affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes, inter-fixes, circumfixes and transfixes) in Urdu from the theoretical perspective of LM regarding their effect on the consonant, vowel and stress segments of root words in a derivational and inflectional process, this paper concerns the areas that the theory needs to account for in Lexical Morphology/Phonology. Katamba (1993) reduces lexical strata to only two by proposing that all irregular inflection and derivation happens at stratum 1 and all regular derivation, inflection and compounding, at stratum 2 Another important assumption of the theory is that there is a symbiotic relationship between the morphological and phonological rules of a word’s formation. Each layer of derivation needs to pass through the phonological rules that determine how the resulting word is to be pronounced
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