inflection/inflexion (n.)

(1) A term used in MORPHOLOGY to refer to one of the two main CATEGORIES or processes of WORD-FORMATION (inflectional morphology), the other being DERIVATION(AL). These terms also apply to the two types of AFFIX involved in word-formation. Inflectional affixes signal GRAMMATICAL relationships, such as plural, past TENSE and possession, and do not change the grammatical CLASS of the STEMS to which they are attached; that is, the words constitute a single PARADIGM, e.g. walk, walks, walked. A word is said to inflect for past tense, plural, etc. In traditional (prelinguistic) grammatical studies, the term ‘accidence’ was used in this sense, as was the term flexion.

(2) (INFL, I) A term used in GOVERNMENT-BINDING THEORY (at first symbolized as INFL, later as I) for an abstract CONSTITUENT which subsumes various grammatical properties – in particular, tense, PERSON and NUMBER (the latter two being separately grouped as AGREEMENT features, or AGR). In X-BAR theory, I is like the LEXICAL categories N, V, A and P in that it is a ZERO-level category with two PHRASAL PROJECTIONS, I′ and I″. I″, the maximal projection of I, is usually referred to as inflection phrase (IP). It is equivalent to S in earlier GB and certain other theories.

 

(3) In the phrase inflecting language (inflectional or inflected languages), the term characterizes a type of LANGUAGE established by COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS using STRUCTURAL (as opposed to DIACHRONIC) criteria, and focusing on the characteristics of the WORD. In this kind of language, words display grammatical relationships morphologically: they typically contain more than one MORPHEME but, unlike AGGLUTINATIVE languages, there is no one-to-one correspondence between these morphemes and the linear SEQUENCE of MORPHS. In languages such as Latin, Greek and Arabic, the inflectional forms of words may represent several morphological OPPOSITIONS, e.g. in Latin amo (‘I love’), the form simultaneously represents tense, ACTIVE, first person singular, INDICATIVE. This ‘fusing’ of properties has led to such languages being called FUSIONAL, and has motivated the WORD-AND-PARADIGM MODEL of analysis. As always in such classifications, the categories are not clear-cut: different languages will display the characteristic of inflection to a greater or lesser degree.

الاكثر قراءة في Morphology

Words and lexemes, types and tokens

Kinds of morphemes

Types of compounds

Unpredictable or partially predictable allomorphy

Predictable allomorphy

The index of synthesis and the index of fusion

Derivational and inflectional morphemes

What do affixes mean?

Morphs and allomorphs

Free and bound morphemes

Kamhmu

Productivity versus creativity

Multiple processes

Lexical and functional morphemes

Problems in morphological description

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

مجلة تسليم تدعو الباحثين والأكاديميين للمشاركة في أعدادها القادمة

المجمع العلمي يواصل إقامة محاضراته الأسبوعية في مقام الإمام المهدي (عجل الله فرجه)

جامعة الكفيل تطلق الدورة التدريبية الصيفية لطلبة كلية الهندسة التقنية

استعدادًا لزيارة الأربعين العتبة العباسية المقدسة تعقد الورشة التنسيقية الرابعة الخاصة بمراكز إرشاد التائهين

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

دراسة علمية تكشف مفاجأة حول الأسباب الحقيقية للسمنة

دراسة: الأطباء يتجاهلون "سببا شائعا" لارتفاع ضغط الدم

نظامك الغذائي غني بالبروتين؟.. احذر هذه الآثار الجانبية

لا تتجاهلها.. أعراض تنذرك بأنك مهدد بالإصابة بالسكري

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

ISOFIX: معيار الأمان الذهبي لمقاعد الأطفال في السيارات

هل المحرك الأكبر دائمًا الأفضل للسيارة؟

اختبارات ناجحة لمحرك "VK-800" الروسي وتطويره لطائرة بايكال الخفيفة

رئيس إنفيديا: الذكاء الاصطناعي الصيني "محفز للتقدم العالمي"

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Mirror in nominal morphology

Appendix 2: Hapax legomena from the Cobuild corpus

Appendix 1: 20th century neologisms from the OED

Morphological Productivity Structural Constraints in English Derivation Conclusion

Verbal derivation and the separation hypothesis

The separation hypothesis

Theoretical implications: Against the separation of form and meaning in morphology

Rival morphological processes 4: Where have all the rivals gone? Summary

Conversion vs. -ize, -ify and -ate

Rival morphological processes -ize vs. -ate

Rival morphological processes -ize vs. -ify

Rival morphological processes 4: Where have all the rivals gone?