Polysynthetic language

Polysynthetic languages are highly synthetic languages, i.e. languages in which words are composed of many morphemes.

Definition

The degree of synthesis refers to the morpheme-to-word ratio. Languages with more than one morpheme per word are synthetic. Polysynthetic languages lie at the extreme end of synthesis continuum with a very high number of morphemes per word (at the other extreme are isolating languages with only one morpheme per word).

These highly synthetic languages often have very long words that correspond to complete sentences in less synthetic languages.

A special case of polysynthesis involves incorporation where lexical morphemes (or lexemes) are combined together to form a single polysynthetic word. Not all polysynthetic languages are incorporating languages.

Origin of term

The term polysythesis was first used in a linguist sense by Peter Duponceau (a.k.a. Pierre Du Ponceau) in 1819 as a term to describe American languages.

The terms synthetic and polysynthetic in this sense were first used by Edward Sapir in the 1920s.

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Examples

Chukchi

Examples of polysynthetic languages include Inuktitut, Mohawk, Classical Ainu, Central Siberian Yupik, Cherokee, Sora, Chukchi and numerous other languages of North America and Siberia.

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

      Təmeyŋəlevtəpəγtərkən.
      tə-meyŋə-levtə-pəγt-ərkən
      1.SG.SUBJ-great-head-ache-IMP
      'I have a fierce headache.'   (Skorik 1961: 102)

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

Classical Ainu

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

The word aaejajkotujmasiramsujpa 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 being incorporating include Central Siberian Yupik and Western Greelandic.

An example from Western Greenlandic, a polysynthetic & agglutinating (but not incorporating) language (Fortescue 1983:97; cited in Evans & Sasse 2002):

      Aliikusersuillammassuaanerartassagaluarpaalli.
      aliiku-sersu-i-llammas-sua-a-nerar-ta-ssa-galuar-paal-li
      entertainment-provide-SEMITRANS-one.good.at-COP-say.that-REP-FUT-sure.but-3plSUBJ/3sgOBJ-but
      'However, they will say that he is a great entertainer, but ...'

(12:1 ratio)

Distribution of polysynthetic languages

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Problems

Not all languages can be easily classified as being completely polysynthetic. 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).

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Theoretical issues

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Bibliography

• Baker, Mark. (1988). Incorporation: A theory of grammatical function changing.
• Baker, Mark. (1996). The polysynthesis parameter.
• Boas, Franz. (1911). Handbook of American Indian languages (Part 1).
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• Comrie, Bernard. (1989). Language universals and linguistic typology (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
• Duponceau, Peter S. (1819). Report of the corresponding secretary to the committee, of his progress in the investigation committed to him of the general character and forms of the languages of the American Indians: Read, 12th Jan. 1819. In Transactions of the Historical & Literary Committe of the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for promoting useful knowledge (Vol. 1, pp. xvii-xlvi).
• Evans, Nicholas; & Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. (2002). Problems of polysynthesis. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. ISBN 3–05–003732–6.
• Fortescue, Michael. (1983). A comparative manual of affixes for the Inuit dialects of Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. Meddelelser om Grømland, Man & society (No. 4). Copenhagen: Nyt Nordisk Forlag.
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