March 3, 2026

Morphophonological Distribution and Productivity of - ity and - ness under Constraints

Key Points

The analysis clarifies the morphological distribution of suffixes -ity and -ness based on their etymological origins and stress patterns.
The data show a marked distinction in how the suffixes attach to adjectival bases, particularly highlighting the role of stress shifts in -ity derivatives.
Assessment of morphophonological properties involved in suffix productivity considered both agreement and prosodic constraints, which revealed exceptions in word formation.
The findings emphasize the importance of suffix constraints while providing insights into the complexity of morphological variation and productivity.

Abstract

This study aims to explore the morphological distribution and productivity of noun-forming suffixes - ity and - ness in regard to etymological data and corpus-based approaches, and to analyze their morphophonological properties by agreement- and prosody-based constraints. The data show that the Latinate suffix - ity and the Germanic suffix - ness attach to the adjectival bases remarkably, which have the corresponding lexical origin to them respectively and stress shift occurring only in - ity derivatives, while word formation processes of the derivatives differ depending on derived bases and underived bases, and also there are exceptional derivatives combined with both - ity and - ness. These could be significantly examined by agreement and prosodic constraints AGREEG-ness, AGREEL-ity, and σ́ σσ# in the ascendancy, to which the derivative-specific constraint L-ity,-ness would add. The results pertinently clarify the morphophonological distribution based on etymology and comparative productivity of - ity and - ness formations under constraints.

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Morphophonological Distribution and Productivity of - ity and - ness under Constraints

Key Points

Abstract

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