A Research Study of Complex Words in the Poetry of Shah Latif

Abstract

Prefix and suffix morphemes are used with remarkable skill in the poetry of Shah Latif. He was not merely a poet who composed in conventional style; rather, his word compositions are presented in an artistic and magnificent manner that captivates the reader. The unparalleled qualities of the Sindhi language are evident throughout his poetry, where each morphological and semantic element occupies its own fixed and designated place, lending his lexical structure greater strength and order.

Numerous distinctive morphological formations appear in his poetry, which were commonly prevalent in his era but are less visible in present-day Sindhi. Given a span of roughly two and a half centuries, changes in the language are inevitable, as Sindhi continues to transform in accordance with evolving social needs. Such morphological shifts hold great significance in historical linguistics and are regarded as an authoritative method for tracing the origin and lineage of any language.

Shah Latif, in his poetry, created new words through prefixation using bound morphemes drawn from Sindhi, Arabic, and Persian, which introduce variation according to gender, number, and affirmative or negative states. His word formations are so captivating that, despite the passage of centuries, the flavor of his poetry remains intact to this day, with no alteration whatsoever.

KEYWORDS: Shah Abdul Latif, Sindhi Morphology, Compound Words, Free Morpheme, Bound Morpheme, Prefixation, Suffixation, Word Formation, Historical Linguistics, Lexical Structure, Root Word, Affixation, Sindhi Poetry, Semantic Change, Language Evolution.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21945379