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Conlangery Podcast

Conlangery #89: Polysynthesis

Apr 22, 2013
50:28

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Quick takeaways

  • Poly synthesis is a term used to describe highly synthetic languages with a high number of morphemes combined to form a single word.
  • Polysynthetic languages exhibit complex verb systems with bound affixes, non-configurational structures, and extensive use of derivational morphemes.

Deep dives

Poly synthesis: A highly synthetic language with a high morpheme-to-word ratio

Poly synthesis is a term used to describe highly synthetic languages, where a high number of morphemes are combined to form a single word. The term is often used to describe the languages of North America, although the exact definition of poly synthesis is not clear. Some characteristics associated with poly synthetic languages include noun incorporation, non-configurational structure, and head marking. These languages can have complex verb systems but simpler noun systems, and often utilize bound affixes to encode various functions such as adverbs, motion, location, and modal verbs.

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