Working with Percolation Conventions: A Generative Analysis of the Urdu Nominal Complex Derivatives

Abstract

This study presents the analysis of tetramorphemic Urdu nominal complex derivatives with structural and percolational perspectives. Complex morphological trees demonstrate the general formal properties as syntactic structures, present factorization of the constituency, and hierarchical structures of the complex derivatives. In the present work, the constituents of the complex nominals are decomposed into morphemes and the geometry of building blocks of the complex derivatives are presented through binary branching trees. The research is conceived within the framework of Generativism. Data are collected from Feroz-ul-Lughat Jame New Edition. Following purposive sampling technique, twelve tetramorphemic complex nominals are selected. The complex nominals are presented with percept to elaborate percolation conventions  proposed by Lieber (1980), Selkirk (1982), Di Sciullo (1986), and Spencer (1994).The present work finds the percolation conventions a handy guide to draw morphological trees. It highlights the co-occurrence of the same category markers as one of the derivational phenomena. It also highlights some constraints on complex morphological trees. It reveals that mismatching between modifier and modified nodes and violating locality condition lead to ambiguity and crash of derivation.