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Word Formation in Urdu: a Linguistic Investigation of Productivity

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Word Formation in Urdu: a Linguistic Investigation of Productivity WORD FORMATION IN URDU: A LINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF PRODUCTIVITY ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS SUBMnTTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Boctor of $)|tloiS?op)i|^ IN LINGUISTICS By MOHSIN KHAN UNDER THE SUPERVTSIOIM OF PROF. A.R. FATIHI DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2013 ABSTRACT The present study is an attempt to investigate the concept of "'Word-Fonnation in Urdu". 'Word-Formation' is an integral part of morphology and it is a process of creating new words and expressions in the language with the help of existing elements. The present study focuses on the representations of words used as tlie names ofUnani medicines composed of more than one morpheme. The study attempts to raise some of the pertinent questions like; ••• How morphological information is realized in the mental lexicon? <• What happens to a new or complex word once it has been formed, cr coined and is used by a larger number «f-spGgJ^ers? <• Which word-formaMpri:^processes are cornWter^ involved to coin these words \ •<< ^ (Unani medicine nanae^)-?-•->•-,...-..• ,u ,' , i •> What is the productivity of^HeStf'W'ofd ?gp^J^tfon processes? Every study at the level of the word, demands to include the study of the object it denotes and "Onomasiological" model of word formation as a starting point for the theory of word formation is concerned with "the question of how concepts (i.e. ideas, objects, activities, etc.) are expressed. Onomasiological theory identifies word- formation as an independent component of linguistics and the scheme represents a crucial triad of relations between extra-linguistic reality (object to be named), a speech community (represented by a 'coiner'), and the word-formation component. New words are constantly introduced into a language (Algeo, 1980; Lehrer 2003), often for naming new concepts. These new names convey concentrated meanings People try to outdo each other with more attractive and unique expressions 1o name their products, which results that these trademarks names are adopted by the common person and become "everyday words of language" (Yule 2006, 53). Unani medicine names are also coined with the help of word-formation processes and the present study deals with two main morphological processes, involved in the coinage o '^^ Unani medicine names: Blending and Compounding. The present research work is divided into four chapters: First chapter entitled, "Introduction" where we have discussed that the present research is an attempt to investigate the concept of "Word-Formation in Ui du". Tlie present study focuses on the representations of words used as the names of Unani medicines composed of more than one morpheme. The word-formations considered in this study attempt, for the most part—satisfy both of these word-formations: • New words that are unique strings of characters, for example, 'webisode" i a blend of web and episode), and • Word-formations that correspond to new meanings for an existing word form, for example, Wikipedia used as a verb—meaning to conduct a search on the website Wikipedia—instead of as a proper noun. After introducing the word-formation, theoretical framework of the present study is discussed in this chapter. About theoretical framework of the present study, it is said that present study uses an "Onomasiological" model of word formation as a starting point for the theory of word formation. Onomasiology is a branch of lexicology that is concerned with the question of how concepts (i.e. ideas, objects, activities, etc.) are expressed. The research framework of the present study incorporates three fundamental factors: (i) Extra-linguistic relation of an object, (ii) Conceptual information about an object, and (iii) Linguistic factors The aim of onomasiological theory is to use a single common mechanism to describe all productive word-formation processes. This theory views the cognitive capacity ot the coiner (i.e. the producer of a new word) as playing an active role in the process, and in general, the theory emphasizes the role of the object to be named (extra- linguistic reality), the speech community, and cognitive factors, which include a lexical component and a word-formation component. A key idea underlying this theory is that the object to be named is viewed in relation to existing objects a ad that these relationships must be taken into consideration during the naming process. Consequently, the theory stresses the interaction between hnguistic and extra- linguistic factors. This theory of word formation includes seven levels: (i) Extra-linguistic reality (ii) Speech community (iii) Conceptual level (iv) Semantic level (v) Onomasiological level (vi) Onomatological level and (vii) Phonological level Each of these levels is described in the present study with the most emphasis placed on the Onomasiological level, the central level of the model. This chapter also deals with the previous research in the field, word-finding piocesses, Scope of the study. The introduction of word-formation processes and some other basic concepts of morphology are briefly discussed and the method of data collection and extraction used in this research is described. Second Chapter, entitled 'Coining Names of Unani Medicine: The Pntcess of Blending'. In this chapter, attempts have been made to analyze the produc'ivity of BLENDING in coining names for Unani medicine. The chapter provides a formal description of the "Process of Blending". Process of blending deals with the action of combining various lexemes to form a new word. However, the process of defining which words are true blends and which are not is more complicated. The difficult) comes in determining which parts of a new word are "recoverable" (have roots that can be distinguished). Algeo (1977) proposed dividing blends into three groups: 1. Phonemic Overlap: A syllable or part of a syllable is shared between two words. 2. Clipping: The shortening of two words and then compounding them. 3. Phonemic Overlap and Clipping: Shortening of two words to a shared syllable and then compounding. After a formal introduction about blending, historical background and research in the field of blending mentioned in detail. Writers have been consciously coining blends to create an effect for many centuries. Blending was used by both Spencer (who composed foolosophy and niniversity) and Shakespeare (rebuse from rebuke + abuse) However, one of the earliest writers to theorise on blends was Lewis Carroll, who did this famously through the character of Humpty Dumpty: 'Well, "slithy" means "lithe"' and "slimy"... You see it's like a portmanteau there are two meanings packed ;nto one word.'(Lewis Carroll, 1872: 102). Blends are classified into three types for analysing the data, collected from Unani medicine names. Those three types are: • A blend containing a splinter and a complete word. • A blend containing no splinter at all, only complete words, which overlap at the point of fusion. • A blend containing two splinters. After the classification of blends in different types, we have differenfiated between blending and other processes of word formation because blending must be unambiguously separated from other related processes of word formation. • Blending and Clipping- When splinters do fiise with another element (assuming the fusion is at the point where the splintering has taken place), the resulting form is necessarily a blend, which is not true of clips. Many linguists have noted that there is an overlap between blends and clips (for instance. Bauer, 1983, Cannon, 1986). Conversely, It can be proposed that the observed grey area has always actually been between clips and the splinters within blends, rather than with the blends themselves. • Blending and Compounding- Observations on compounding serves to highlight one of the differences between blends and compounds: Such tenns [compounds], however, have the advantage of explaining themselves in a much greater detail than others, have little need of definition, lilends, conversely, are not always self-defining. In fact, Cannon (1986) argues that the most typical blend is the one that cannot be unpicked when taken out of context. Thus, the aim of this research is to propose definitions and criteria that can help to distinguish between blends and other types of word formation. Third Chapter, entitled 'Coining Names of Unani Medicine: The Process of Compounding'. This chapter investigates the question of compounding as a producti\e word- formation process in the naming process of UNANI MEDICINE by explormg the concepts of collocation and lexicalization. The claim is that compounds can exhibit different internal structures, including syntactically ambiguous forms, as is the case with the noun + prepositional phrase. Frequency of co-occurrence and the unique meaning of all elements, together with the phenomenon of technicalization, argue in favor of such an assumption. A compound word is a union of two or more words to convey a unit-idea oi" special meaning that is not conveyed as easily or quickly by separated words. An open compound is a combination of words so closely associated that they convey the idea of a single concept but are spelt as unconnected words. A solid (closed) compound combines two or more words into one solid word. Whether a compound becomes lexicalized or not, depends on its fi^equency in everyday use and its significance for the hearer. Lexicalization is the process of adding words, set phrases, or word patterns to a language - that is, of adding items to a language's lexicon and compounding is also apart of lexicalization. In the next section of this chapter, the structure of compounds is explained with reference to Urdu. A compound word in English and URDU is generally formed with two words. These two words can be noun+noun, noun+adjective, verb+verb, or preposition+noun etc. In this section, the structure of compound s is discussed in detail with Urdu examples. From the point of view of structure of compounds, a common semantic classification of compounds yields four types: > Endocentric > Exocentric > Copulative > Appositional Based on the above semantic classification of compounds we analyzed the data, collected as Unani medicines names.
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