释义 |
isolating, ppl. a.|ˈaɪsəleɪtɪŋ| [f. isolate v. + -ing2.] 1. Linguistics. Designating languages (e.g. Vietnamese) in which (for the most part) words do not vary in form according to their grammatical functions in sentences, as contrasted with agglutinating and inflecting languages.
1860[see inflexional, inflectional a. 1]. 1861Max Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. 1st Ser. viii. 274 Languages belonging to this first or Radical Stage, have sometimes been called Monosyllabic or Isolating. 1868― Sel. Ess. Lang. (1881) I. 44 We find it repeated again and again in most works on Comparative Philology, that Chinese belongs to the isolating class, the Turanian languages to the combinatory, the Aryan and Semitic to the inflectional. 1885Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 774/2 Such languages, constituting the small minority of human tongues, are wont to be called ‘isolating’, i.e., using each element by itself, in its integral form. 1921E. Sapir Lang. vi. 133 More justifiable [than the traditional classification of linguistic types as i) isolating, ii) agglutinative, iii) inflective] would be a classification according to the formal processes most typically developed in the language. Those languages that always identify the word with the radical element would be set off as an ‘isolating’ group against such as either affix modifying elements..or possess the power to change the significance of the radical element by internal changes. 1953C. E. Bazell Ling. Form i. 2 In languages of so-called ‘isolating’ structure the syllable may often be regarded as the minimal unit having independent morphological relevance. 2. Biol. isolating barrier, mechanism, a geographical, ecological, seasonal, physiological, or other factor which limits or prevents interbreeding between groups of plants or animals.
1913W. Bateson Probl. Genetics vi. 119 In one remarkable case the season of appearance plainly acts as the isolating barrier. 1937T. Dobzhansky in Amer. Naturalist LXXI. 405 The expression ‘isolating mechanisms’ seems to be a convenient general name for all the mechanisms hindering or preventing the interbreeding of racial complexes or species. 1973I. H. Herskowitz Prince. Genetics xxxvi. 564 It is expected..that natural selection would favor isolating mechanisms that operate prior to mating. |