Natural Morphology

Natural Morphology came up in the late 1970s as a theoretical framework characterized by a strong reference to Peircean semiotics that provides the basis for the universal preferences for constructional iconicity. In contrast to other theoretical frameworks that intend to capture the format of the generative process supplying the grammar of words, Natural Morphology provides a systematic description of the speakers’ concrete behavior in the analysis and production of morphologically complex words on the basis of universal preferences and system-specific levels of adequacy that model the morphological system of natural languages.