This chapter builds on the discussion of rule systems in the previous chapter and addresses a major issue in modern morphological theory: the opposition of morpheme-based and paradigm-based approaches to morphological systems. Historically, these two opposing approaches can be traced to two distinct origins: morpheme-based approaches developed in the West following contact with the morpheme-based Pāṇinian approach to grammar, and paradigm-based approaches reflecting the inheritance from traditional Hellenistic and Roman grammar. Stump’s four-way decomposition of approaches to morphological theory is explored, and Pāṇini’s position within this framework is reassessed.

What are statistics and why do we need them? This chapter introduces descriptive statistics and then creates a bridge from describing data concisely to answering questions using hypothesis testing and inferential statistics. The chapter leads the reader to an understanding of how descriptive statistics summarize and communicate meaning, based on data, and how they underpin inferential statistics. Research study examples, figures, and tables throughout the chapter explain the topics addressed by applying the ideas discussed. The chapter begins with the basics of descriptive statistics – normal distributions, options for displaying frequencies, measures of central tendency and variability, and correlations. The transition to inferential statistics covers standardization and the z-score, sampling, confidence intervals, and basics of hypothesis testing including Type I and II errors. We then introduce inferential statistics using three methods – t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and chi-square tests.