Bound productivity in stem-formation and categorial separation

Abstract

This study argues that individually unproductive processes of morphology can be highly productive for certain other tasks in sequential productions when they occur in combination with certain other processes. Unlike the relevant literature, which generally treats -(y)I as a phonological piece of the agentive suffixation in Modern Turkish, -(y)ICI, the study argues that -(y)I in instances like kır-ı-cı (break-nominalizer-agentive) ‘breaker/offending, hurtful’, is a stem-formative, creating novel stems required for further operation, -CI. Importantly, the -(y)I nominalization, with no semantic motivation, provides numerous (bound) V-(y)I- forms which are unattested in isolation without further derivation. Thus, the recognition of such a stem-formative is crucial. It shows that (i) form, meaning, and categorial separateness is necessary, and (ii) bound derivations and bound productivity can constitute a good part of the grammar. The study supports the formal analyses via the experimental findings of a recent survey of the productivity of a group of paradigmatic nominalizations including -(y)I in Turkish, and concludes that stem-formative operations may output “preforms”, which are bound but productive derivatives fulfilling the formal conditions of forthcoming operations, and that semantics-free stem-formations may involve categorial modifications. This leads us to categorial separation and its possible autonomy in grammar.