Morphological complexity outside of universal grammar (1998)
Jirka Hana, Peter W. Culicover · 2013
Abstract This chapter focuses on morphosyntax, in particular the use of linear order in inflected words to express correspondences between form and meaning. It explores the possibility that different orderings among the root and inflection in an inflected form may yield differences in the complexity of the form-meaning correspondence. It argues that the identification of inflectional morphology expressed as suffixation is computationally less complex than prefixation, which in turn is computationally less complex than infixation. These preferences account for the greater frequency of suffixation over prefixation, and the greater frequency of prefixation over infixation.