Distributional Morphological Approach to Word Productivity and Base Isolation in the Urdu Language

Abstract

This study explores the morphological complexity of the Urdu language through the lens of the Distributional Morphological (DM) framework proposed by Halle and Marantz (1993). Urdu's word formation patterns, deeply influenced by Persian and Arabic grammatical systems, present both theoretical and applied challenges for linguists. Using a qualitative methodology with a descriptive and exploratory design, this research aims to analyze word productivity and the identification of monomorphic bases in standard Urdu. The findings demonstrate that Urdu exhibits a highly systematic yet complex morphological structure, where monomorphic roots can be effectively isolated and analyzed. The implications of this study extend beyond theoretical linguistics to computational applications, including enhanced lexical identification, corpus development, improved translation software, and the reduction of machine translation errors. While the scope is limited to the standard dialect of Urdu, the study opens pathways for future investigations into regional varieties and cross-linguistic morphological comparisons, particularly with closely related languages such as Hindi and Persian.