Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-nwzlb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T17:15:26.333Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Laurie Bauer
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington
Get access

Summary

‘Produktivität’ zählt zu den unklarsten Begriffen der Linguistik.

[‘Productivity’ is among the least clear concepts in linguistics.]

Mayerthaler (1981: 124)

The issue

This book deals with productivity as it affects morphological systems. Unfortunately, in the present state of morphological studies, this opening statement may mean different things to different people, even a definition of ‘productivity’ being a matter of some dispute. In order to develop a position from which conclusions can be drawn, it is thus necessary to begin from the very beginning, and gradually to construct a secure foundation of notions to support the enterprise. We can begin this construction by considering one fundamental definition of ‘productivity’.

Hockett (1958: 575) gives the label ‘productivity’ to that property of language which allows us to say things which have never been said before, the design feature that Chomsky (1965: 6) calls ‘creativity’. We do not have to go any further to see that this is an area in which there is, at least, some terminological difference of opinion. To add to the confusion, Chomsky (1965: 5) also talks about syntactic processes being ‘productive’ without making it clear whether ‘productive’ and ‘creative’ are the same or different things, while others, such as Lyons (1977: 76–78), distinguish carefully between the two terms, though not all scholars draw the same distinction.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Introduction
  • Laurie Bauer, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Book: Morphological Productivity
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486210.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Laurie Bauer, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Book: Morphological Productivity
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486210.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Laurie Bauer, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Book: Morphological Productivity
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486210.002
Available formats
×