PRODUCTIVITY

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What is productivity?

Productivity is a rule-governed pr
ocess and the productivity of a m
orphological process is its potenti
al for repetitive non-creative morp
hological coining. (Bauer, 2001)
 Productivity
Definition in the literature
1. The frequency of the output words
2. The number of available bases
3. The proportion of words actually used to the
number of words potentially created by a p
rocess
4. The possibility of forming new words
5. The probability of new words forming
6. The number of new words occurring in a s
pecific period of time
Productivity

Productivity describes a property of language

that allow people to say things which we
have never said or heard of before because
(1) they know the rules for the combination
of appropriate elements into sentences and
(2) because they are able to assign meaning
s to those elements.
Give the plural forms of the
following words

1. Argaz
2. Smick
3. Brox
4. Ceratopus
5. Cheppie

Answer:
6. Argazim
7. Smicks
8. Broxes
9. Ceratopuses
10.Cheppies
Is productivity the same as cr
eativity?
NO
Productivity is rule-governed
Creativity is not rule-governed
What to study?

 Productivity in shape: formal generality and regularity

 Productivity in meaning: semantic regularity
 Semantic blocking
 Productivity in compounding
 Measuring productivity: the significance of neologisms
 Conclusions: Productivity in syntax
1. Formal generality and Regularity
Consider the following suffixes

1. -ness
2. -ity
3. -th
Which one is most productive?
-ness:
 formally general
-ity/-th: mush less general => the result
of attaching these suffixes sound
unconventional and un-English.
-ness -ity -th
Formally general Quite regular Quite irregular
Possible bases for it
are easy to specify

-ity Adjs ending in –ive, -able, -ible, -al, -ar, ic,

-id, -ous, etc.
-th Adjs are generally monosyllabic: deep, wide,
broad, long, strong
Formal generality
- Of a derivational process
- The characteristics of exploiting all
or nearly all potential bases,
without “gaps”
- Example: -ness (Deadjectival Ns)
Formal regularity
- Of a derivational process
- The characteristic that the kind of
base to which the process can
apply can be relatively precisely
specified.
- Example: -ity (Deadjectival Ns),
-en (Deadjectival Vs)
 Formal regularity
syntactic -ness attached to adjectives
-able attached to transitive verbs
-ly attached to adjectives
morphological -ity attached to adjectives that contain certain suffixes
Phonological -al (noun-forming) attached to verb that has the final
stressed syllable
Example:
Þ survival, proposal, referral, committal
But not
Þ *edital, *punishal, *reckonal
-en (verb-forming) attached to monosyllabic bases that end
in plosives (redden, thicken, dampen, shorten, weaken) or
fricatives (stiffen, lengthen)
2. Productivity in meaning:
semantic regularity

 A derivational process is semantically

regular if the contribution that it ma
kes to the meaning of the lexemes prod
uced by it is uniform and consistent.
Ex: -Xly (adverb forming) always mean “in
an X fashion” or “to an X degree”
 Semantic irregularity

Think about:
Xable: doable, loadable, breakable, …..
Xer: teacher, worker, painter,…
inX: inappropriate, insane, ineffective,…
Xal: pedagogical, occupational,
educational, …
=> What is the meaning of –able, -er,
in-, -al
Affixes Semantic regularity Semantic irregularity
-able loadable readable
-er teacher cooker
-al educational ethical
in- invalid indifferent

It is important to contrast formal regularity and

semantic regularity.
 Formal regularity versus s
emantic regularity

Formal regularity Semantic regularity

All verbs ending in –mit Commit 1 (v): to do
will have the nouns something illegal or
ending –ion (-mission) something that
is considered wrong
Admit => admission Commit 2 (v): to promise
Commit => commission or give your loyal, time,
Permit => permission money
Remit => remission Þ commitment (n)
Transmit => transmission Þ commission (n)
 Inflection
Word forms related by
inflection are all forms of
one lexeme, and therefore
necessarily belong to one
lexical item.
=> Semantic regularity is
the norm.
Derivation
Word forms related by
derivation belong to
different lexemes and
therefore, belong to
different lexical items.
=> Semantic regularity is
not always the case.
3. Semantic blocking

What do you call the baby of a

1. pig
2. goose
3. cat
4. dog
Can you say ….?
catlet? doglet?
Why not?
3. Semantic blocking

Consider two adjectives:

curious and glorious
What are the nouns derived from them?
 curiosity?
 *gloriosity?
 glory
3. Semantic blocking

Why not saying:

 goed (past tense of go)
 unbad
 Fastly
 Semantic blocking
 3. Semantic blocking

Semantic blocking: the phenomenon whereby the

existence of a word (whether simple or derived) with
a particular meaning inhibits the morphological
derivation, even by formally regular means, of another
word with precisely that meaning.
 Example:
 like – dislike
 love - *dislove => hate
4. Productivity in compounding

Primary compounds Secondary compounds

Semantically irregular Semantically regular
hairnet/ mosquito net Window-cleaner
green house Football player
Crime prevention

Semantic irregularity of primary compounds

does not entail any formal irregularity.
Any two nouns whatever can be juxtaposed
in English to produce a formally acceptable
root compound.

Example:
Ebola virus
Ebola virus vaccine
Ebola virus vaccine patent
Ebola virus vaccine patent lawsuit