Saad, Muhammad2015-05-142015-05-142014https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/1531The purpose of this research is to describe the word formation processes (WFPs) used in the Urdu language and measure their productivity. WFPs in Urdu are categorized into two basic types, i.e., syntagmatic (linear) and paradigmatic (non-linear). It is argued here that the working of the syntagmatic WFPs is governed by rule and translates formally into affixation. On the contrary, the non-affixal WFPs are paradigmatic, essentially based on the relationship patterns among mutually related words in the lexicon. These relationship patterns emerge due to the organization of mutually related words in the lexicon into morphological families. The organization of words into families is possible due to the existence of an associative memory, which relates words with words and features with features. The relationship patterns among mutually related words also act as word formation patterns, which are generalized to predict the existence and facilitate the coining of novel words, via analogy. Consequently, words are not built or derived from other words, rather their existence is deduced. Hence, predictability rather than derivation presumably becomes the key relation among the words coined through the non-affixal WFPs in Urdu, while rule and analogy emerge as the two principle cognitive mechanisms which underlie affixation and non-affixal WFPs in Urdu, respectively. Contrary to affixation, paradigms are used to depict the relationship patterns among mutually related words coined through the non-affixal WFPs in Urdu.M.Phil ThesisThesis