A synthetic language, in linguistic typology, is a language with a high morpheme-per-word ratio. 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 Polysynthetic languages are highly Synthetic languages ie languages in which words are composed of many Morphemes Definition The degree of 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 Linguistic Typology is an international Peer-reviewed journal in the field of Linguistic typology, founded in 1997 A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them 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 This linguistic classification is largely independent of morpheme-usage classifications (such as fusional, agglutinative, etc. 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 ), although there is a common tendency for agglutinative languages to exhibit synthetic properties.
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Synthetic and isolating languages
Synthetic languages are frequently contrasted with isolating languages. In morphological typology (in linguistics an isolating language (also analytic language) is any Language in which words are composed of It is more accurate to conceive of languages as existing on a continuum, with strictly isolating (consistently one morpheme per word) at one end and highly polysynthetic (in which a single word may contain as much information as an entire English sentence) at the other extreme. Polysynthetic languages are highly Synthetic languages ie languages in which words are composed of many Morphemes Definition The degree of English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Synthetic languages tend to lie around the middle of this scale.
Specimens
Synthetic languages are numerous and well-attested, the most commonly cited being Indo-European languages such as Greek, Latin, German, Italian, Russian, Polish and Czech, as well as many languages of the Americas, including Navajo, Nahuatl, Mohawk and Quechua. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the Navajo or Navaho ( native name: Diné bizaad) is an Athabaskan language (of Na-Dené stock spoken in the southwest United States by Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family This article is about the language spoken by the Mohawk people for other uses see Mohawk. Quechua ( Runa Simi) is a Native American language of South America.
Forms of synthesis
There are several ways in which a language can exhibit synthetic characteristics:
Derivational synthesis
In derivational synthesis, morphemes of different types (nouns, verbs, affixes, etc. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. An affix is a Morpheme that is attached to a stem to form a word ) are joined to create new words. For example:
- German: Aufsichtsratsmitgliederversammlung => "On-view-council-with-limbs-gathering" meaning "meeting of members of the supervisory board" ("with" and "limb" forming a derivation that is the German word for "member")
- Greek: υπερχοληστερολαίμια => "overmuch/high-cholesterol-blood+-ia(suffix)" meaning "hypercholesterolemia"
- Polish: przystanek => "beside-stand-little" meaning "bus stop"
- English: antidisestablishmentarianism => "against-ending-institutionalize-condition-advocate-ideology"
- Russian: спасибо => "god-save-you" (thank you)
Relational synthesis
In relational synthesis, root words are joined to bound morphemes to show grammatical function:
- Italian: comunicandovele => "communicating-you(plural)-those(feminine, plural)" meaning "(while or by) communicating those(feminine, plural) to you(plural)"
- Spanish: escribiéndomelo => "writing-me-it" meaning "(while or by) writing it to me"
- Nahuatl: ocaltizquiya => "already-(she)-him-bathe-would" meaning "she would have bathed him"
- Japanese: 見せられがたい (miseraregatai) => "see-causative-passive-difficult" meaning "it's difficult to be shown (this)"
- Finnish: juoksentelisinkohan => "run-erratic motion-conditional-I-question-casual" meaning "I wonder if I should run around (aimlessly)"
- Finnish: hiutaleannos => "flake-ration"; hiuta+le has the components hiutua meaning "to thin" and -le meaning "a small thing produced by the action", and ann+os is derived from antaa meaning "to give" and -os meaning "a mass transferred or made by the action". The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Hypercholesterolemia (literally high blood cholesterol is the presence of high levels of Cholesterol in the blood. Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. A bus stop is a designated place where a Public transport Bus stops for the purpose of allowing passengers to board or leave a bus English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Antidisestablishmentarianism (listen to,) is a political position that originated in nineteenth-century Britain, where antidisestablishmentarians were opposed to Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The root is the primary lexical unit of a Word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents In Etymology, a bound morpheme is a Root morpheme that cannot stand alone as an independent word Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside In Grammar, a frequentative form of a word is one which indicates repeated action The conditional mood is the form of the verb used in Conditional sentences to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs or an uncertain event that is contingent on another set
- Turkish: Afyonkarahisarlılaştıramayabileceklerimizdenmisiniz => meaning "Are you (all) amongst the ones whom we may not be able to make citizens of Afyonkarahisar?"
Degrees of synthesis
In order to demonstrate the "continuum" nature of the isolating-synthetic-polysynthetic classification, some examples are shown below:
Strictly isolating
Rather isolating
English: "He travelled by hovercraft on the sea. Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States " Largely isolating, but travelled and hovercraft each have two morphemes per word, the former being an example of relational synthesis (inflection), and the latter of derivational synthesis (derivation).
Rather synthetic
Japanese: 私たちにとって、この泣く子供の写真は見せられがたいものです。(Watashitachi ni totte, kono naku kodomo no shashin wa miseraregatai mono desu) means strictly literally, "In our case, these pictures of children crying are things that are difficult to be shown," approximately We cannot bear being shown these pictures of children crying in more idiomatic English. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities In the example, virtually every word has more than one morpheme and some have up to five (the particles ni, no, wa are enclitic case markers, i. In Linguistics, a clitic is a grammatically independent and phonologically dependent Word. e. , they are phonologically part of the previous word).
Very synthetic
Finnish: Käyttäytyessään tottelemattomasti oppilas saa jälki-istuntoa means "Should he/she behave in an insubordinate manner, the student will get detention. Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside " Structurally: behaviour(present/future tense)(of his/hers) insubordinate(in the manner/style) studying(he/she who (should be)) gets detention(some). Practically every word is derived and/or inflected, and one word can be considered polysynthetic. This is, however, very formal language - almost like judicial text - and usually replaced by more analytic structure: Kun oppilas käyttäytyy tottelemattomasti, hän saa jälki-istuntoa.
Polysynthetic
Mohawk: Washakotya'tawitsherahetkvhta'se means "He ruined her dress" (strictly, "He made the thing that one puts on one's body ugly for her"). This article is about the language spoken by the Mohawk people for other uses see Mohawk. One word expresses the idea that would be conveyed in an entire sentence in a non-polysynthetic language.
Oligosynthesis
Oligosynthetic languages are a theoretical notion created by Benjamin Whorf with no known examples existing in natural languages. An oligosynthetic language (from the Greek ὀλίγος, meaning "few" or "little" is any Language using very few Morphemes Such languages would be functionally synthetic, but make use of a very limited array of morphemes (perhaps just a few hundred). Whorf proposed that Nahuatl was oligosynthetic, but this has since been discounted by most linguists. Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family
See also
- Analytic language
- Isolating language
- Inflection
- Morphology (linguistics)
- Linguistic typology
- Bound morpheme
External links
- SIL: What is a morphological process?
- SIL: What is derivation?
- SIL: Comparison of inflection and derivation
- Lexicon of Linguistics: Inflection, Derivation
- Lexicon of Linguistics: Base, Stem, Root
- Linguistic typologyPDF (275 KiB) , chapter 9 of Halvor Eifring & Rolf Theil: Linguistics for Students of Asian and African Languages
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