Qubahan Academic Journal | 2026
Authors: Guliyeva G.; Mammadova G.; Aliyeva N.; Oksanen L.
DOI: 10.48161/qaj.v6n2a2521
Journal: Qubahan Academic Journal
Year: 2026
Publisher: Qubahan
Document Type: Article
Open Access: All Open Access; Gold Open Access
Cited by: 0
This article develops a function-driven, corpus-based account of derivational morphology restricted to English and Azerbaijani, two typologically distant systems that nonetheless converge under shared discourse pressures. We conceptualize word-formation as the coupling of morphotactic resources with communicative goals and operationalize productivity through a transparent index averaging normalized type frequency, novel-token ratio, and mean transparency. Using balanced written corpora spanning academic prose, administrative/professional documentation, and quality media, we extract derivatives by rule-guided filtering and manual verification, and annotate process (affixation, compounding, conversion, blending), semantic role (agentive, instrumental, evaluative, procedural), register, and transparency; inter-annotator reliability targets are met following joint training and adjudication. Results reveal complementary profiles: English favors conversion, agentive-er, and evaluative/adjectival-able, while blending clusters in media; Azerbaijani exhibits high-yield agentive and instrumental suffixation (-çı/-çi,-lıq/-lik), productive nominalizations (-ma/-mə,-etmə), and transparent N + N compounds in professional discourse. Register-conditioned Functional Pathways innovation, professionalization, evaluation, proceduralization predict the loci of stabilization for novel formations, and statistical tests (rank-based or parametric, with effect sizes and multiple-comparison control) substantiate cross-register contrasts without a necessary trade-off between productivity and transparency in the agglutinative system. The study refines English– Azerbaijani typological expectations, provides a replicable analytic workflow for higher-education settings, and offers practical guidance for terminology and role labeling in bilingual professional communication. © 2026, Qubahan. All rights reserved.
Derivational Morphology; Nominalization; Semantic Transparency; Word-Formation Processes