518:
Languages with a higher tendency toward isolation generally exhibit a morpheme-per-word ratio close to 1:1. In an ideal isolating language, visible morphology would be entirely absent, as words would lack any internal structure in terms of smaller, meaningful units called morphemes. Such a language
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The morpheme-to-word ratio operates on a spectrum, ranging from lower ratios that skew toward the isolating end to higher ratios on the synthetic end of the scale. A larger overall ratio suggests that a language leans more toward being synthetic rather than isolating.
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399:, which uses unbound morphemes or syntactical constructions to indicate grammatical relationships. Isolating and analytic languages tend to overlap in linguistic scholarship.
341:
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472:). This word has a 3:1 morpheme per word ratio. On average, words in English have a morpheme per word ratio substantially greater than one.
629:"A Computerized Identification System for Verb Sorting and Arrangement in a Natural Language: Case Study of the Nigerian Yoruba Language"
456:
To illustrate the relationship between words and morphemes, the
English term "rice" is a single word, consisting of only one morpheme (
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degree of fusion between morphemes (how separable the inflectional morphemes of words are according to units of meaning represented)
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It is perfectly possible for a language to have one inflectional morpheme yet more than one unit of meaning. For example, the
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158:
460:). This word has a 1:1 morpheme per word ratio. In contrast, "handshakes" is a single word consisting of three morphemes (
410:, where words often consist of multiple morphemes. That linguistic classification is subdivided into the classifications
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whatsoever. In the extreme case, each word contains a single morpheme. Examples of widely spoken isolating languages are
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A language is said to be more isolating than another if it has a lower morpheme per word ratio.
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483:/видят "they see" has a morpheme per word ratio of 2:1 since it has two morphemes. The root
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847:. Studies in Diversity Linguistics 11. Berlin: Language Science Press. p. 22.
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Although historically, languages were divided into three basic types (
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morpheme per word ratio (how many morphemes there are per word)
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Introduction to
Typology: The Unity and Diversity of Language
367:
16:"Uninflected" redirects here. For the use in grammar, see
422:, which are based on how the morphemes are combined.
708:Whaley, Lindsay J. (1997). "Chapter 7: Morphemes".
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896:
888:Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech
32:Language with a very low morpheme per word ratio
495:/-ŃŹŃ‚ inflects for four units of meaning (third-
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883:Chapter 6: "Types of linguistic structure"
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395:A closely related concept is that of an
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487:/вид- conveys the imperfective
370:ratio close to one, and with no
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687:Glossary of Linguistic Terms
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159:Ditransitive/Monotransitive
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716:. SAGE Publications, Inc.
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844:A Grammar of Papuan Malay
791:"Polysynthetic language"
763:"Morphological Typology"
569:Central Flores languages
503:subject, present/future
23:Not to be confused with
666:Encyclopedia Britannica
881:Sapir, Edward (1921).
841:Kluge, Angela (2017).
408:inflectional languages
854:10.5281/zenodo.376415
606:Zero-marking language
392:) in Southeast Asia.
149:Nominative–absolutive
112:Nominative–accusative
816:"Isolating language"
683:"Isolating Language"
905:Isolating languages
662:"Analytic language"
596:Linguistic typology
404:synthetic languages
381:in West Africa and
263:Object–verb–subject
258:Object–subject–verb
253:Subject–object–verb
241:Verb–object–subject
236:Verb–subject–object
231:Subject–verb–object
124:Ergative–absolutive
39:Linguistic typology
822:. 5 September 2015
601:Synthetic language
356:isolating language
864:978-3-944675-86-2
689:. 3 December 2015
586:Analytic language
544:Classical Chinese
397:analytic language
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294:Place–manner–time
290:Time–manner–place
183:Dependent-marking
134:Symmetrical voice
117:Marked nominative
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824:. Retrieved
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745:. Retrieved
742:bucknell.edu
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691:. Retrieved
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372:inflectional
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248:OV languages
226:VO languages
198:Null-subject
193:Head-marking
59:
29:
426:Explanation
311:Color terms
169:Indirective
164:Secundative
612:References
549:Vietnamese
387:colloquial
383:Vietnamese
375:morphology
217:Word order
208:Theta role
144:Tripartite
499:subject,
432:isolating
107:Alignment
67:Synthetic
60:Isolating
899:Category
820:Sorosoro
580:See also
535:Examples
412:fusional
390:register
364:morpheme
316:Numerals
72:Fusional
55:Analytic
826:4 April
800:4 April
775:4 April
747:4 April
693:4 April
641:4 April
525:affixes
477:Russian
362:with a
302:Lexicon
861:
720:
554:Yoruba
515:/-ŃŹŃ‚.
501:plural
497:person
489:aspect
481:vĂdyat
418:, and
379:Yoruba
885:. In
766:(PDF)
632:(PDF)
523:like
505:tense
479:word
466:shake
358:is a
859:ISBN
828:2023
802:2023
777:2023
749:2023
718:ISBN
695:2023
643:2023
513:-yat
509:mood
493:-yat
485:vid-
462:hand
458:rice
368:word
366:per
849:doi
354:An
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343:e
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20:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.