over-differentiationn.
/ˌəʊvəˌdɪfərɛnʃɪˈeɪʃn/, U.S. /ˈˌoʊvərˌdɪfəˌrɛn(t)ʃiˈeɪʃ(ə)n/ Unnecessary or excessive differentiation; (Linguistics) the unnecessary differentiation of elements in a phonemic, graphemic, or grammatical system, or in their analysis. Cf. differentiation n. 3b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > [noun] > specific features of linguistic analysis
structuring1890
over-differentiation1921
hypostasis1933
contextualization1934
scatter1934
opposition1936
minimality1953
mapping1955
biuniqueness1959
linearity1959
n-gram1963
meta-condition1972
optionality1972
1921 Jrnl. Philos. 18 614 Over-differentiation would result in disintegration.
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. 269 Among the substantives are some pronoun-forms which, by over-differentiation, do not serve as actors: me, us, him, [etc.].
1965 Amer. Speech 40 108 Overdifferentiation of phonemes involves the imposition of phonemic distinctions from English into the phonemic system of Texas German, where they are not required.
1992 Financial Times (Nexis) 29 June 14 Much of the rest went on what might be termed over-differentiation: video recorders with too many buttons, cars with too many flashing lights on the dashboard.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1921