The Most Productive Morphological Processes in Selected Sri Lankan English Literary Texts

Abstract

Morphological processes in a variety of English is a core area as it constitutes the process of word- formation. It contributes to the enrichment of the lexis of that particular variety. Sri Lankan English morphology is influenced by its native language i.e. Sinhala. The productivity of morphological processes is determined by the abundant usage of a process. Thus, this study was initiated with the aim of exploring the productive morphological processes in Sri Lankan English. A qualitative method was used for collecting data from thirty literary works: novels and short stories, of Sri Lankan writers. Each piece of writing was carefully analyzed. Sri Lankan English morphological terms were gathered and categorized under different morphological processes. The findings revealed that the productive morphological processes in Sri Lankan English literary texts were borrowings, affixation, and compounding.