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Polysynthesis as a typological feature

An attempt at a characterization from Eskimo and Athabaskan perspectives

Abstract

Polysynthesis is characterized as a type of morphology, qualitatively different from inflectional morphology and from derivational morphology and redefined as productive noninflectional concatenation (PNC). Like syntax and unlike derivational morphology, PNC is fully productive, potentially recursive, necessarily concatenative, allows for ordering variability of some elements, and interacts with syntax. Unlike inflectional morphology and like syntax and derivational morphology, PNC can be category-changing. This postulated morphological feature is very prevalent in polysynthetic language families such as Eskimo (illustrated by Siberian Yupik), but not very prevalent in other language families often designated as polysynthetic, such as Athabascan (illustrated by Western Apache). This new characterization of polysynthesis has as an interesting consequence its existence, to a small degree, in Indo-European languages.

Abstract

Polysynthesis is characterized as a type of morphology, qualitatively different from inflectional morphology and from derivational morphology and redefined as productive noninflectional concatenation (PNC). Like syntax and unlike derivational morphology, PNC is fully productive, potentially recursive, necessarily concatenative, allows for ordering variability of some elements, and interacts with syntax. Unlike inflectional morphology and like syntax and derivational morphology, PNC can be category-changing. This postulated morphological feature is very prevalent in polysynthetic language families such as Eskimo (illustrated by Siberian Yupik), but not very prevalent in other language families often designated as polysynthetic, such as Athabascan (illustrated by Western Apache). This new characterization of polysynthesis has as an interesting consequence its existence, to a small degree, in Indo-European languages.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Part I. Polysynthesis
  5. Polysynthesis in the Arctic 3
  6. Polysynthesis as a typological feature 19
  7. Analytic vs. synthetic verbal constructions in Chukchi and West Greenlandic 35
  8. Lexical polysynthesis 51
  9. How synchronic is synchronic analysis? 65
  10. Comparative constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik 81
  11. Part II. Around the verb
  12. The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut 97
  13. Objective conjugations in Eskaleut and Uralic 115
  14. Complex verb formation revisited 135
  15. Determining the semantics of Inuktitut postbases 149
  16. The marking of past time in Kalaallisut, the Greenlandic language 171
  17. Part III. Discourses and contacts
  18. Tracking topics 185
  19. Arguments and information management in Inuktitut 201
  20. Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition 215
  21. Grammatical structures in Greenlandic as found in texts written by young Greenlanders at the turn of the millennium 231
  22. Chat – New rooms for language contact 249
  23. Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and language contact around Bering Strait 261
  24. Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults 273
  25. Index of languages 307
  26. Index of subjects 309
Variations on Polysynthesis
This chapter is in the book Variations on Polysynthesis
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.86.02pol

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Part I. Polysynthesis
  5. Polysynthesis in the Arctic 3
  6. Polysynthesis as a typological feature 19
  7. Analytic vs. synthetic verbal constructions in Chukchi and West Greenlandic 35
  8. Lexical polysynthesis 51
  9. How synchronic is synchronic analysis? 65
  10. Comparative constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik 81
  11. Part II. Around the verb
  12. The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut 97
  13. Objective conjugations in Eskaleut and Uralic 115
  14. Complex verb formation revisited 135
  15. Determining the semantics of Inuktitut postbases 149
  16. The marking of past time in Kalaallisut, the Greenlandic language 171
  17. Part III. Discourses and contacts
  18. Tracking topics 185
  19. Arguments and information management in Inuktitut 201
  20. Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition 215
  21. Grammatical structures in Greenlandic as found in texts written by young Greenlanders at the turn of the millennium 231
  22. Chat – New rooms for language contact 249
  23. Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and language contact around Bering Strait 261
  24. Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults 273
  25. Index of languages 307
  26. Index of subjects 309
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