polysynthesismn.
/ˌpɒlɪˈsɪnθᵻsɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˌpɑliˈsɪnθəˌsɪz(ə)m/ Linguistics.
Polysynthesis; polysynthetic character or condition.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > [noun] > language characterized by grammar or morphology > synthetic character
polysyntheticism1862
syntheticism1863
polysynthesism1866
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > morphology > word-formation > [noun] > compounding > polysynthesis
polysynthesis1837
polysynthetism1860
polysyntheticism1862
polysynthesism1866
1866 H. Tuttle Origin & Antiq. Physical Man iii. 93 The ideas of savages are not complex... Hence they strive to present them simultaneously by a single effort or word; and from this results agglutination or polysynthesism.
1881 R. Brown Language 21 Others see in polysynthesism a survival of the universal early state of languages.
1932 W. L. Graff Lang. & Langs. ix. 334 We must mention a morphological type which is sometimes confused with polysynthesism, namely, incorporation.
1973 L. Kassianoff tr. M. G. Levin Ethnic Origins Peoples Northeastern Asia ii. iv. 111 The fusion of pronouns with verbs and nouns, the tendency to polysynthesism, the extreme mobility of phonetic changes [etc.].
2003 R. S. Cox Body & Soul 222 The result is a linguistic tendency toward ‘agglutination or polysynthesism’, the concatenation of words of disparate function.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1866