Morphological Model 4: Functional-Based Morphology

Functional morphology is a way of modeling how words are formed using ideas from functional programming, a style of computer programming that treats operations as mathematical functions.

Example:
You have a function that takes a root word (e.g., “walk”) and a parameter (e.g., “past tense”).
The function outputs the correct form: “walked”.

In short, Functional morphology treats word formation like math, you give it inputs (word + grammar info), and it returns the right word form.