Polysynthetic languages are highly synthetic languages, i. Linguistic Typology is an international Peer-reviewed journal in the field of Linguistic typology, founded in 1997 Morphological typology is a way of classifying the languages of the world (see Linguistic typology) that groups languages according to their common morphological structures In morphological typology (in linguistics an isolating language (also analytic language) is any Language in which words are composed of A synthetic language, in Linguistic typology, is a Language with a high Morpheme -per- word ratio For fusion in Word formation, see Compound (linguistics. A fusional language (also called inflecting language) is a An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words In Linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the system used to distinguish between the arguments of Transitive verbs and those of Intransitive A nominative-accusative Language (or simply accusative language) is one that marks the direct object of Transitive verbs distinguishing them An ergative-absolutive Language (or simply ergative language is a language that treats the argument (" subject " of an Intransitive Austronesian alignment, commonly known as the Philippine- or Austronesian -type voice system, is a typologically unusual Morphosyntactic alignment An active-stative language, or active language for short is one in which the sole argument of an Intransitive verb is sometimes marked in the same way A tripartite language, also called an ergative-accusative language, is one that treats the subject of an intransitive verb the subject of a transitive verb and the object A direct-inverse language is a language where clauses with transitive verbs can be expressed either using a direct or an inverse construction The syntactic pivot is the Verb argument around which sentences "revolve" in a given Language. In Generative grammar, (in particular Government and binding theory and the Standard Theory of Transformational Grammar a theta role or θ-role is the In Linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the different ways in which languages arrange the constituents of their sentences relative to each other and the systematic In Linguistics, a VO language is a language in which the Verb typically comes before the object (thus including SVO, VOS and In Linguistic typology, subject-verb-object ( SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first the Verb second and the object Verb Subject Object ( VSO) is a term in Linguistic typology. It represents one type of languages when classifying languages according to the sequence of these In Linguistic typology, Verb Object Subject or Verb Object Agent - commonly used in its abbreviated form VOS or VOA - represents the language-classification In Linguistics, an OV language is a language in which the object comes before the Verb. In Linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and Verb of a sentence appear or usually Object Subject Verb (OSV or Object Agent Verb (OAV is one of the permutations of expression used in Linguistic typology. Object Verb Subject (OVS or Object Verb Agent (OVA is one of the Permutations of expression used in Linguistic typology, although it is rare among Time Manner Place (TMP describes one possible ordering of Adpositional phrases in sentences Place Manner Time is a term used in Linguistic typology to state the general order of Adpositional phrases in a language's sentences "to the store by car A synthetic language, in Linguistic typology, is a Language with a high Morpheme -per- word ratio e. languages in which words are composed of many morphemes. In Morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning.

Definition

The degree of synthesis refers to the morpheme-to-word ratio. In Morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning. A word is a unit of Language that carries meaning and consists of one or more Morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together and has a Phonetic Languages with more than one morpheme per word are synthetic. Polysynthetic languages lie at the extreme end of the synthesis continuum with a very high number of morphemes per word (at the other extreme are isolating or analytic languages with only one morpheme per word). In morphological typology (in linguistics an isolating language (also analytic language) is any Language in which words are composed of These highly synthetic languages often have very long words that correspond to complete sentences in less synthetic languages.

Many, if not most, languages regarded as polysynthetic include agreement with object arguments as well as subject arguments in verbs. Incorporation (primarily noun incorporation) has been an issue that has historically been confused with polysynthesis and also used as a criterion for its definition. Incorporation is a phenomenon by which a word usually a Verb, forms a kind of compound with for instance its Direct object or Adverbial modifier Incorporation refers to the phenomenon where lexical morphemes (or lexemes) are combined together to form a single word. For its use in the context of Computer Science see Lexical analysis. Not all polysynthetic languages are incorporating, and not all incorporating languages are polysynthetic.

A contrast was made by some linguists between oligosynthetic and polysynthetic languages, where the former term was applied to languages with relatively few morphemes. An oligosynthetic language (from the Greek ὀλίγος, meaning "few" or "little" is any Language using very few Morphemes The distinction is not widely used today.

Mark C. Baker has tried to define polysynthesis as a syntactic macroparameter within Noam Chomsky's "principles and parameters" programme. Mark C Baker is an American linguist. He received his Ph D from MIT in 1985 and has taught at Rutgers since 1998. Avram Noam Chomsky (noʊm ˈtʃɑmski born December 7 1928 is an American linguist, Philosopher, cognitive scientist, Political Principles and parameters is a framework in Generative linguistics. He defines polysynthetic languages as languages that conform to the syntactic rule that he calls the "polysynthesis parameter" and which as a result show a special set of morphological and syntactic properties. The polysynthesis parameter states that all phrasal heads must be marked with either agreement morphemes of their direct argument or else incorporate these arguments in that head. Incorporation is a phenomenon by which a word usually a Verb, forms a kind of compound with for instance its Direct object or Adverbial modifier This definition of polysynthesis leaves out some languages that are commonly stated as examples of polysynthetic languages (such as Inuktitut), but can be seen to be the reason of certain common structural properties in others such as Mohawk and Nahuatl. Inuktitut ( Inuktitut syllabics: iu-Cans ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ ( fonts required literally "like the Inuit") is the name of the varieties of This article is about the language spoken by the Mohawk people for other uses see Mohawk. Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family Baker's definition, probably because of its heavy dependence on Chomskian theory, has not been accepted as a general definition of polysynthesis.

Origin of term

The term "polysynthesis" was probably first used in a linguistic sense by Peter Stephen DuPonceau (a. Peter Stephen DuPonceau, born Pierre-Etienne Du Ponceau, ( June 3, 1760, Saint-Martin-de-Ré, France - April 1, 1844 k. a. Pierre Étienne Duponceau) in 1819 as a term to describe American languages:

Three principal results have forcibly struck my mind. . . They are the following:

1. That the American languages in general are rich in grammatical forms, and that in their complicated construction, the greatest order, method and regularity prevail
2. That these complicated forms, which I call polysynthesis, appear to exist in all those languages, from Greenland to Cape Horn. Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the Cabo de Hornos redirects here for the Chilean commune see Cabo de Hornos Chile.
3. That these forms appear to differ essentially from those of the ancient and modern languages of the old hemisphere. (Duponceau 1819:xxii-xxiii)

The manner in which words are compounded in that particular mode of speech, the great number and variety of ideas which it has the power of expressing in one single word; particularly by means of the verbs; all these stamp its character for abundance, strength, and comprehensiveness of expression, in such a manner, that those accidents must be considered as included in the general descriptive term polysynthetic. (Duponceau 1819:xxvii)

I have explained elsewhere what I mean by a polysynthetic or syntactic construction of language. . . . It is that in which the greatest number of ideas are comprised in the least number of words. This is done principally in two ways. 1. By a mode of compounding locutions which is not confined to joining two words together, as in the Greek, or varying the inflection or termination of a radical word as in the most European languages, but by interweaving together the most significant sounds or syllables of each simple word, so as to form a compound that will awaken in the mind at once all the ideas singly expressed by the words from which they are taken. 2. By an analogous combination of various parts of speech, particularly by means of the verb, so that its various forms and inflections will express not only the principal action, but the greatest possible number of the moral ideas and physical objects connected with it, and will combine itself to the greatest extent with those conceptions which are the subject of other parts of speech, and in other languages require to be expressed by separate and distinct words. . . . Their most remarkable external appearance is that of long polysyllabic words, which being compounded in the manner I have stated, express much at once. (Duponceau 1819:xxx-xxxi)

The terms synthetic and polysynthetic were first used in the modern sense by Edward Sapir in the 1920s. Edward Sapir (səˈpɪər ( January 26 1884 &ndash February 4 1939) was a Jewish German - American

Examples

Examples of polysynthetic languages include Inuktitut, Mohawk, Classical Ainu, Central Siberian Yupik, Cherokee, Sora, Chukchi and numerous other languages of the Americas, Siberia, Caucasus and northern Australia. Inuktitut ( Inuktitut syllabics: iu-Cans ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ ( fonts required literally "like the Inuit") is the name of the varieties of This article is about the language spoken by the Mohawk people for other uses see Mohawk. The Ainu language (Ainu ain アイヌ イタク aynu itak; Japanese: ja アイヌ語 ainu-go) is spoken by the Ainu The Yupik languages are the several distinct languages of the several Yupik (Юпик peoples of western and southcentral Alaska and northeastern Siberia Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ Tsalagi) is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people which uses a unique syllabary writing system Sora (also Saora Saonras Shabari Sabar Saura Savara Sawaria Swara Sabara is a Munda language of India, spoken by some 288000 native speakers (1997 The Chukchi language (лыгъоравэтлъан йилйил lyg"oravetl'an jiljil) also known as Luoravetlan, Chukot and Chukcha is

Example of polysynthetic languages include new conlang Arahau, invented in 2006 the Russian writer Ivan Karasev. Arahau (araˈxau̯ is an a priori Constructed language created by Russian writer Ivan Karasev in 2006. Ivan Vladimirovich Karasev ( Russian: Иван Владимирович Карасёв b

Chukchi

An example from Chukchi, a polysynthetic, incorporating, and agglutinating language:

Təmeyŋəlevtpəγtərkən. The Chukchi language (лыгъоравэтлъан йилйил lyg"oravetl'an jiljil) also known as Luoravetlan, Chukot and Chukcha is

t-ə-meyŋ-ə-levt-pəγt-ə-rkən

1. SG. In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" SUBJ-great-head-hurt-PRES. According to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle, every sentence can be divided in two main constituents, one being the subject of the sentence and the Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album released in 1968 by Columbia Records. 1

'I have a fierce headache. '   (Skorik 1961: 102)

Təmeyŋəlevtpəγtərkən has a 5:1 morpheme-to-word ratio with 3 incorporated lexical morphemes (meyŋ 'great', levt 'head', pəγt 'ache').

Classical Ainu

From Classical Ainu, another polysynthetic, incorporating, and agglutinating language:

The word aejajkotujmasiramsujpa has a total of 9 morphemes with 2 lexical morphemes (tujma 'far', ram 'heart') incorporated into the verb.

Western Greenlandic

Languages with a high degree of synthesis but without canonically productive noun incorporation include Central Siberian Yupik and Western Greenlandic. The Yupik languages are the several distinct languages of the several Yupik (Юпик peoples of western and southcentral Alaska and northeastern Siberia

An example from Western Greenlandic, a polysynthetic and agglutinating language (Fortescue 1983:97; cited in Evans and Sasse 2002):

Aliikusersuillammassuaanerartassagaluarpaalli.

aliiku-sersu-i-llammas-sua-a-nerar-ta-ssa-galuar-paal-li

entertainment-provide-SEMITRANS-one. In Syntax, a transitive verb is a Verb that requires both a subject and one or more objects Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs good. at-COP-say. that-REP-FUT-sure. In Grammar, the future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet but expected to happen in the future (in an Absolute tense but-3. PL. SUBJ/3SG. OBJ-but

'However, they will say that he is a great entertainer, but . An object in Grammar is a Sentence element and part of the sentence predicate. . . '

(12:1 ratio)

Distribution of polysynthetic languages

Polysynthetic languages have arisen in many places around the world. The list below gives some families that are stereotypically polysynthetic, although some members of the families may be less so than others.

Siberia

• Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages
• Ket ("probable")
• Nivkh (possible)

North America

• Algonquian languages
• Caddoan languages
• Eskimo-Aleut languages
• Iroquoian languages
• Nadene languages
• Salishan languages
• Siouan languages ("mildly" polysynthetic)
• Wakashan languages
• Yana

Central America:

• Mayan languages
• Totonacan languages
• Uto-Aztecan languages
• Mixe-Zoquean languages

South America

• Quechumaran languages,
• Tupi-Guaraní languages
• Many Amazonian languages
• Mapudungun

Caucasus

• Northwest ("doubtful")

South Asia

• Munda languages

Oceania

• many Papuan languages (e. The Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages are a language family of northeastern Siberia. The Ket language, formerly known as Yenisei Ostyak, a Siberian language long thought to be an isolate, the sole surviving language of a Yeniseian language Nivkh or Gilyak (ethnonym нивхгу Japanese: ja ニヴフ語/ギリヤーク語 nivufu-go/giriyāku-go is a language spoken in Outer Manchuria The Algonquian (also Algonkian, and pronounced both and) languages are a subfamily of Native American languages that includes most of the languages in the Algic The Caddoan languages are a family of Native American languages. Eskimo-Aleut is a Language family native to Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, and parts of Siberia. The Iroquoian languages are a Native American Language family. This article is about the Salish/Salishan language For the Tacoma Washington neighborhood see Salishan Tacoma Washington. The Siouan (aka Siouan proper, Western Siouan) languages are a Native American Language family of North America, and the Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of The article is about a Californian language For the Chinese city see Yan'an. The Totonacan Languages are a family of closely-related languages spoken by approximately 200000 Totonac and Tepehua people in the states of Uto-Aztecan (also Uto-Aztekan) is a Native American Language family. The Mixe-Zoque languages constitute a Language family whose living members are spoken in and around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. The Quechuan languages are a family of related Languages in South America. Guaraní /gwaraˈni/ (local name avañe'ẽ) is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní subfamily of the Mapudungun (from mapu 'earth land' and dungun 'speak speech' is a Language isolate spoken in central Chile and west central Argentina The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called Pontic, Circassian, or Abkhaz-Adyghe, are a group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region The Munda languages are a Language family spoken by about nine million people in central and eastern India and Bangladesh. The term Papuan languages refers to those Languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. g. Awtuw, Yimas)
• northern Australian languages (e. g. Bininj Gun-wok, Gunwinyguan, Ngalakgan, Rembarrnga, Tiwi

Theoretical issues

Not all languages can be easily classified as being completely polysynthetic. The Gunwinyguan languages form the second largest family of Australian Aboriginal languages. Tiwi is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on the Tiwi Islands, within sight of the coast of northern Australia Morpheme and word boundaries are not always clear cut, and languages may be highly synthetic in one area but less synthetic in other areas (compare verbs and nouns in Southern Athabaskan languages). Southern Athabaskan (also Apachean) is a subfamily of Athabaskan languages spoken primarily in the North American Southwest (including Arizona

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