Re: Polysynthesis (was To Doug Ball... and Thanks Ferko...)

--- Doug Ball <db001i@...> wrote:
> "Muddy morpheme boundaries" is a part of
> polysynthesis, but not the only part
> In thinking about it more, I think that there are
> several factors involved
> in classifying a language as polysynthesis:
> -Lots of morphemes in a word
> -Words that are whole sentences
> -Complex words (the model for structure of words has
> lots of slots or
> positions)
> -Complex interaction of morphology and phonology
> -The presence of incorporation
Ok, this puts things into better perspective a
little... I think.  Let me read on and try to identify
if my conlang falls into this or not.

> The other marker is the presence of incorporation.
> Usually incorporation is where the
> object "incorporates" into a verb.
> An example of this in a language that
> just happens to have the
> same words as English:
> I car-drive (meaning 'I drive cars').
> In the verb 'car-drive', the direct object ('cars')
> has become
> morphologically part of the verb, thus it is said to
> have been
> "incorporated" into the verb.
> Although this is usually found just with objects
> into verbs, apparently some
> languages go nuts with it.
Yes, this explanation would qualify Vya:a:h as
polysynthetic I"m pretty sure.

So, a strange example might be something from Vya:a:h
in English vocab like:
"Graugy-and-to-the-point-of-exhaustion-about-to-fall-asleep
in-central-Tokyo
writing-about-something-on-the-computer-in-the-middle-of-the-night
guy-the, very-kind on-an-internet-mailing-club-list
guy-the-to, replied" where the hyphen shows these
words all consist of one word in Vya:a:h.  BTW,
meaning: "The guy in central Tokyo, who is writing
about something on the computer in the middle of the
night, who is graugy and about to fall asleep [due to
being] to the point of exhaustion, replied to the guy
on an internet mailing club list who is very kind."

(*Note: Is the word "graugy" spelled right? Perhaps
it's even a slang word from my own vocab - do you
understand it?)

> As you might well guess, incorporation creates
> complex words,
yes..

> with lots of morphemes in them,
yes...

> and makes words that are equivalent to full
sentences

yes...

> So, hopefully this helps you better see what my idea
> of polysynthesis is
Many thanks for the extensive explanation.

BTW, wouldn't one classify Finnish as polysynthetic as
it possesses the above characteristics too -- as far
as I know (with my limited Finnish) ?

Matt33


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