LARANA, INC.

TYPES OF
MORPHOLOGICAL
PRODUCTIVITY
BY SIR ASHRAFF
 QUALITATIVE
PRODUCTIVITY
QUALITATIVE PRODUCTIVITY: THIS REFERS TO THE ABILITY OF A MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESS TO
CREATE NEW WORDS THAT ARE SEMANTICALLY AND PHONOLOGICALLY WELL-FORMED AND
ACCEPTABLE TO NATIVE SPEAKERS. IN OTHER WORDS, THE NEW WORDS CREATED THROUGH THIS
PROCESS ARE BOTH MEANINGFUL AND SOUND NATURAL IN THE LANGUAGE.

ONE EXAMPLE OF A HIGHLY QUALITATIVELY PRODUCTIVE MORPHOLOGICAL

PROCESS IN ENGLISH IS THE DERIVATIONAL SUFFIX "-ABLE". THIS SUFFIX CAN
BE ADDED TO MANY VERBS TO CREATE ADJECTIVES THAT EXPRESS THE
POTENTIAL OR ABILITY TO PERFORM THE ACTION DENOTED BY THE VERB. FOR
EXAMPLE, THE VERB "READ" CAN BE COMBINED WITH "-ABLE" TO FORM THE
ADJECTIVE "READABLE", WHICH MEANS "ABLE TO BE READ". SIMILARLY, THE
VERB "DRINK" CAN BE COMBINED WITH "-ABLE" TO FORM THE ADJECTIVE
"DRINKABLE", WHICH MEANS "ABLE TO BE DRUNK". THESE NEW ADJECTIVES
ARE BOTH SEMANTICALLY AND PHONOLOGICALLY WELL-FORMED AND ARE
WIDELY ACCEPTED BY ENGLISH SPEAKERS.

 QUANTITATIVE
PRODUCTIVITY
QUANTITATIVE PRODUCTIVITY: THIS REFERS TO THE FREQUENCY AND RANGE OF USE OF A MORPHOLOGICAL
PROCESS IN A LANGUAGE. IN OTHER WORDS, THE MORE FREQUENTLY AND WIDELY A PARTICULAR
MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESS IS USED, THE MORE QUANTITATIVELY PRODUCTIVE IT IS.
ONE EXAMPLE OF A HIGHLY QUANTITATIVELY PRODUCTIVE MORPHOLOGICAL
PROCESS IN ENGLISH IS THE PLURAL MARKER "-S", WHICH I MENTIONED
EARLIER. THIS MARKER IS USED TO FORM THE PLURAL OF MOST ENGLISH
NOUNS, AND IS ONE OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY USED MORPHOLOGICAL
PROCESSES IN THE LANGUAGE.

 COMPARISON
1. Definition:
Qualitative productivity: Focuses on the quality and acceptability of the generated words
through a morphological process. It evaluates whether the process is well-formed,
semantically transparent, and phonologically regular.
Quantitative productivity: Focuses on the frequency and extent of use of a morphological
process in a language. It examines how often the process is employed and the range of its
application.

2. Focus:
Qualitative productivity: Focuses on the quality and linguistic acceptability of new word
formations.
Quantitative productivity: Focuses on the frequency and prevalence of a morphological
process in generating new words.

In summary, qualitative productivity assesses the quality and acceptability of the generated
words, while quantitative productivity examines the frequency and extent of usage of a
morphological process. Both aspects provide valuable insights into the productivity and
characteristics of morphological processes in a language.