Odia grammar

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Odia grammar is the study of the morphological and syntactic structures, word order, case inflections, verb conjugation and other grammatical structures of Odia, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in South Asia.

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Morphology

Morphology is the identification, analysis and description of the structure of morphemes and other units of meaning in the Odia language. Morphemes (called ରୁପିମ) are the smallest units of the Odia language that carry and convey a unique meaning and is grammatically appropriate. A morpheme in Odia is the most minuscule meaningful constituent which combines and synthesizes the phonemes into a meaningful expression through its (morpheme's) form & structure. Thus, in essence, the morpheme is a structural combination of phonemes in Odia. In other words, in the Odia language, the morpheme is a combination of sounds that possess and convey a meaning. A morpheme is not necessarily a meaningful word in Odia. In Odia, every morpheme is either a base or an affix (prefix or a suffix). [1] [2]

Examples: Base Morpheme:

Phonetic Components: ଘରକୁ = ଘ୍ + ଅ + ର୍ + ଅ + କ୍ + ଉ

Morphological Components: ଘରକୁ = ଘର + କୁ

Morphological Components/Derivatives:

ହାତୀ = ହାତ + ଈ (ଈ = ଅଛି)
ହାତିଆ = ହାତ + ଇଆ (ଇଆ = ପରିମାଣ)
ହାତୁଡ଼ି = ହାତ + ଉଡ଼ି (ଉଡି = ଆକୃତି)

General analysis

The existence and span of rules of morphemes in a language depend on the "morphology" in that particular language. In a language having greater morphology, a word would have an internal compositional structure in terms of word-pieces (i.e. free morphemes – Bases) and those would also possess bound morphemes like affixes. Such a morpheme-rich language is termed as synthetic language. To the contrary, an isolating language uses independent words and in turn, the words lack internal structure. A synthetic language tends to employ affixes and internal modification of roots (i.e. free morphemes – Bases) for the same purpose of expressing additional meanings.

Odia is a moderately synthetic language. It contains definite synthetic features, such as the bound morphemes mark tense, number (plurality), gender etc. However, though the Odia language has a larger number of derivational affixes, it has virtually no inflectional morphology.

Derivational synthesis in Odia morphology

Odia morphemes of different types (nouns, verbs, affixes, etc.) combine to create new words.

Relational synthesis in Odia morphology

In relationally synthesized Odia words, base morphemes (root words) join with bound morphemes to express grammatical function.

The Odia language has a tendency for commonly used words to have a 2:1 morpheme-word ratio i.e. on average; there are two morphemes in a single word. Because of this tendency, Odia is said to "possess morphology" since almost each used word has an internal compositional structure in terms of morphemes. In the Odia language, generally, separate words are used to express syntactic relationships which imparts an isolating tendency, while using inflectional morphology could have made the language more synthetic.

Components of a morpheme

There are several components of a morpheme in the Odia language. There are as follows:

Base: A morpheme that imparts meaning to a word.

Derivational Morpheme: These morphemes alter and/or modify the meaning of the word and may create a whole new word.

Allomorphs: These are different phonetic forms or variations of a morpheme. The final morphemes in several words are pronounced differently, but they all signify plurality.

Homonyms: are morphemes that are spelled similarly but have different meanings. Such examples abound in Odia grammar and are termed as similarly pronounced words (ସମୋଚ୍ଚାରିତ ଶବ୍ଦ). Examples:

ଜୀବନ (life) and ଜୀବନ (water), ହରି (Lord Vishnu) and ହରି (Monkey).

Homophones: These are morphemes that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings. Examples: ସିତ (Black colour), ସୀତ (Plough head).

Classification

Morphemes in Odia may be classified, on the basis of word formation, characteristics into the following types:

TypeStructureBoundFreeSub-types
Root1. Simple
2. Made up of a single morpheme
3. Basis for compounding and affixation
Yes/NoYes/NoNone
Stem1. Simple/Complex
2. Composed of one/multiple morphemes
3. Basis for affixation
Yes/NoYes/NoNone
AffixSimpleYesNoPrefix, Infix, Suffix, Suprafix, Simulfix, and Circumfix
CliticSimpleYes (Phonologically)Yes (Syntactically)Proclitic and Enclitic

Types of morphemes

Free morpheme

Independent meaningful units are free morphemes. These are elemental words. Free morpheme can stand alone as a word without help of another morpheme. It does not need anything attached to it to make a word.

ରାମ ଭାତ ଖାଉଛି = ରାମ ଭାତ(କୁ) ଖାଉଛି: କର୍ମ
ରାତି ବିତାଇଲା = ରାତି(ରେ) ବିତାଇଲା: ଅଧିକରଣ
ରାମ କଥା ଶୁଣିଲି = ରାମ(ର) କଥା ଶୁଣିଲି: ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧ ପଦ

Bound morpheme

Units which are not independent words but convey meaning on account of their usage on combination are bound morphemes. A bound morpheme is a sound or a combination of sounds that cannot stand on its own as a meaningful word. Most of the bound morphemes in Odia are ‘affixes’. An affix is a morpheme that may come at the beginning (Termed as Prefix) or the end (Termed as Suffix) of a base morpheme.

In Odia, prefixes are bound morphemes are affixes that come before a base morpheme. For example:

ଉପକୂଳ = ଉପ + କୂଳ
ଉପନଦୀ = ଉପ + ନଦୀ
ଅପବାଦ = ଅପ + ବାଦ
ଅପରୂପ = ଅପ + ରୂପ

A suffix is an affix that comes after a base morpheme. Example of suffix Bound Morphemes are:

ସାଧୁତା = ସାଧୁ + ତା
ବୀରତ୍ୱ = ବୀର + ତ୍ୱ
କାମିକା = କାମ + ଇକା
ନିସୃୃତ = ନିଃ + କୃତ
ତା, ତ୍ୱ, ଇକା are bound morphemes used suffixes.
/ସାଧୁ/, /ବୀର/, /କାମ/ etc. are ‘complete bound morphemes’ /ତା/, /ତ୍ୱ/, /ଇକା/ etc. are ‘dissected or partial bound morphemes’.

The free morphemes carry a fixed meaning while the bound morphemes exhibit large scale variations in meanings. The variable and changing meanings of the bound morphemes impart diversity to word meanings and enrich the language.

Complex or combined morpheme

In a complex morpheme, multiple free morphemes are combined to form a word and impart meaning. More than one Stem Morphemes create a complex morpheme.

Noun + Noun:
ଘରଭଡ଼ା = ଘର + ଭଡ଼ା
ରଙ୍ଗମଞ୍ଚ = ରଙ୍ଗ + ମଞ୍ଚ

Adjective + Noun: କଳା + ପଟା = କଳାପଟା

Noun + Adjective: ସର୍ବ + ସାଧାରଣ = ସର୍ବସାଧାରଣ

Adjective + Adjective: ଭୀମ + କାନ୍ତ = ଭୀମକାନ୍ତ

Mixed morpheme

Where both free and bound morphemes combine to form another morpheme, the result is called a mixed morpheme. The mixed morpheme may result from the following combinations:

ମଣିଷ + ପଣ + ଇଆ = ମଣିଷପଣ + ଇଆ = ମଣିଷପଣିଆ

ମଣିଷପଣ is a complex morpheme while ଇଆ is a bound morpheme.

Inflectional morphemes can only be suffixes. An inflectional morpheme creates a change in the function of the word. Example, ଇଲା with ସୁଗନ୍ଧ, giving rise to ସୁଗନ୍ଧିଲା, indicates past tense. Odia has innumerable inflectional morphemes, unlike only seven in English Language. Among others, these include the following:

  • ମାନେ, ଗୁଡ଼ା, ଗୁଡ଼ିଏ (plural, -s in English language)
  • ର, ଙ୍କର, ମାନଙ୍କ, ମାନଙ୍କର; -'s (possessive) are noun inflections;
  • ଇଲା, ନିର୍ମିତିଲା past tense (-ed),
  • ଉଛି; -ing (present participle) are verb inflections;

In Odia morphology, there are no adjective and adverb inflections like the comparative (-er) and superlative (-est) of English language. Instead, bound morphemes like ଠାରୁ and ରୁ, and free morphemes like ତୁଳନାରେ etc. are used.

Marker morpheme

In linguistics, a marker is a morpheme, mostly bound, that indicates the grammatical function of the target (marked) word or sentence. In a language like Odia with isolating language tendencies, it is possible to express syntactic information via separate grammatical words instead of morphology (with bound morphemes). Therefore, the marker morphemes are easily distinguished.

Verb morpheme

Verb roots can take transformation and function as morphemes.

ଖା + ଇଆ = ଖିଆ = ମଣିଷଖିଆ ବାଘ
ପ୍ରଭାବ + ଇଆ = ପ୍ରଭାବିଆ = ପ୍ରଭାବିଆ ମଣିଷ

Verb Morpheme can be either continuous morphemes or perfect morphemes on the basis of tense.

Verb continuous morphemes:

ଖା + ଇ = ଖାଇ
ଅନୁବାଦ + ଇ = ଅନୁବାଦି

Verb perfect morphemes:

ଖା + ଇଲା = ଖାଇଲା
ଅନୁଭାବ + ଇଲା = ଅନୁଭାବିଲା
Sub-morpheme

Sub-morphemes are metamorphosis of actual morphemes. Sub-morphemes are also called complementary morphemes or meta-morphemes. Sub-morphemes may arise on account of changes in number of noun morphemes or tense of verb morphemes or gender of noun morphemes, as under:

  • Number:
/ଗୋଟିଏ/ + /ଘର/ = /ଗୋଟିଏ ଘର/ One + House = A House
/ଗୁଡ଼ିଏ/ + /ଘର/ = / ଗୁଡ଼ିଏ ଘର/ Many + House = Many Houses
/ଗୋଟିଏ/ + /ଲୋକ/ = /ଲୋକଟିଏ /
/ଅନେକ/ + /ଲୋକ/ = /ଲୋକ/ Sub Morpheme: /ଏ /
  • Tense:

The sub-morphemes are different appearances of a morpheme at different tense. For instance, the present perfect morpheme in Odia is: /ଇଲା/ However, the present perfect sub-morpheme of /ଇଲା/ is /ଲା/. For instance:

/ଖା/ + /ଇଲା/ = /ଖାଇଲା/
/ପା/ + /ଇଲା/ = /ପାଇଲା/

are normal usage of /ଇଲା/. However, the sub-morpheme is:

/ଗ/ + /ଲା/ = /ଗଲା/
/ଦେ/ + /ଲା/ = /ଦେଲା/
/ନେ/ + /ଲା/ = /ନେଲା/

Difference between morphemes, words and syllables in Odia

Even though morphemes combine to create a word in Odia, the morphemes are not always independent words. Some single morphemes are words while other words are composed of two or more morphemes.

In Odia, morphemes are also different from syllables. Many words have two or more syllables but only one morpheme. For example: ମୋ'ର.
On the other hand, many words have two morphemes and only one syllable; examples include ଧନୀ, ମୋଟା.

Nouns

Nouns are those which are inflected by number, gender or case markers.

Number

There are two types of numbers in Odia:

Singular denotes one and only one person or thing and the noun may be followed or preceded by singular specifiers or singular number markers. Plural which denotes number more than one person or thing, is formed by the addition of plural suffixes to the nouns which usually occur as singular.

The singular number markers occur as suffix:

Singular suffix
SuffixEg.Meaning
ଟି ṭiକଲମଟି kalamaṭipen
ଟା ṭāଝିଅଟା jhiaṭādaughter
ଟିଏ ṭieପିଲାଟିଏ pilāṭiechild

The plural number occur with nominal forms as:

No suffix- uncountable nouns
EgMeaning
ଚିନି cinisugar
ବାଲି bālisand
Plural suffix
SuffixEg.Meaning
ମାନେ māneଲୋକମାନେ lokamānepeople
ମାନ mānaଗ୍ରନ୍ଥମାନ granthamānaholy books
ଗୁଡ଼ା guṛā (guḍā)ଭାତଗୁଡ଼ା bhātaguḍāboiled rice
ଗୁଡ଼ାଏ guṛāe (guḍāe)ଫଳଗୁଡ଼ାଏ phaḷaguḍāefruits
ଗୁଡ଼ାକ guṛāka (guḍāka)ଚାଉଳଗୁଡ଼ାକ cāuḷaguḍākarice
ଗୁଡ଼ିଏ guṛie (guḍie)ଫୁଲଗୁଡ଼ିଏ phulaguḍieflowers
ଗୁଡ଼ିକ guṛika (guḍika)ନଦୀଗୁଡ଼ିକ nadīguḍikarivers
eପିଲେ pilechildren
ସବୁ sabuଗାଁସବୁ gā̃sabuvillages
ଶ୍ରେଣୀ śreṇīପର୍ବତଶ୍ରେଣୀ parbataśreṇīmountains
ଯାକ ẏāka (jāka)ଘରଯାକ gharajākahouses

Gender

There is no grammatical gender in Odia, instead gender is lexical. Though gender plays no major role in grammatical agreement between subject and predicate but it is accounted for in nominal inflections. There are three types of gender:

Different words for gender
MaleMeaningFemaleMeaning
ବାପା bāpāfatherମା mother
ପୁଅ puasonଝିଅ jhiadaughter
ଭାଇ bhāibrotherଭଉଣୀ bhauṇīsister
ସ୍ୱାମୀ swāmīhusbandସ୍ତ୍ରୀ strīwife
ରାଜା rājākingରାଣୀ rāṇīqueen
ଷଣ୍ଢ ṣaṇḍhabullଗାଈ gāīcow
Prefix
MaleMeaningFemaleMeaning
ପୁରୁଷ ଲୋକmale personସ୍ତ୍ରୀ ଲୋକfemale person
ପୁଅ ପିଲାmale childଝିଅ ପିଲାfemale child
ପୁରୁଷ ଯାତ୍ରୀmale passengerମହିଳା ଯାତ୍ରୀfemale passenger
ଅଣ୍ଡିରା କୁକୁରmale dogମାଈ କୁକୁରfemale dog
ଅଣ୍ଡିରା ଛେଳିmale goatମାଈ ଛେଳିfemale goat
Suffix
SuffixMaleMeaningFemaleMeaning
ସଭ୍ୟmale memberସଭ୍ୟାfemale member
ଶିଷ୍ୟmale studentଶିଷ୍ୟାfemale student
ଦୁଷ୍ଟnaughty(m)ଦୁଷ୍ଟାnaughty(f)

(morpho-phonemic
change- ଅ to ଇ)
ବାଳକboyବାଳିକାgirl
ଗାୟକmale singerଗାୟିକାfemale singer
ନାୟକactorନାୟିକାactress
ଶିିିକ୍ଷକmale teacherଶିକ୍ଷିକାfemale teacher
ପୁତ୍ରsonପୁତ୍ରୀdaughter
ବୁଢ଼ାold manବୁଢ଼ୀold woman
କୁମାରyoung boyକୁମାରୀyoung girl
ସୁନ୍ଦରhandsome(m)ସୁନ୍ଦରୀbeautiful(f)
ଦେବgodଦେବୀgoddess

(morpho-phonemic
change- ଆ to ଈ)
ଟୋକାboyଟୋକୀgirl
ଛୋଟାlame(m)ଛୋଟୀlame(f)

(morpho-phonemic
change- ଅ to ଆ)
କଣାblind(m)କାଣୀblind(f)
ସଳାbrother-in-lawସାଳୀsister-in-law

(morpho-phonemic
change- ଆ to ରୀ)
ନେତାmale leaderନେତ୍ରୀfemale leader
ରଚୈତାauthorରଚୈତ୍ରୀfemale author
ଣୀଚୋରmale thiefଚୋରଣୀfemale thief
ମୂଲିଆmale labourerମୂଲିଆଣୀfemale labourer
ଣୀ
(morpho-phonemic
change- ଅ to ଆ)
ଠାକୁରgodଠାକୁରାଣୀgoddess
ମାଷ୍ଟରmale teacherମାଷ୍ଟ୍ରାଣୀfemale teacher
ତନ୍ତୀmale weaverତନ୍ତୀଆଣୀfemale weaver
ଡାକ୍ତରmale doctorଡାକ୍ତରାଣୀfemale doctor
ଣୀ
(morpho-phonemic
change- ଅ to ଉ)
ବାଘtigerବାଘୁଣୀtigress
ଗଧmale donkeyଗଧୁଣୀfemale donkey
ଣୀ
(morpho-phonemic
change- ଆ to ଉ)
ଚଷାmale farmerଚାଷୁଣୀfemale farmer
ଣୀ
(morpho-phonemic
change- ଇ to ଉ)
ମାଳିmale gardenerମାଲୁଣୀfemale gardener
ଭିକାରିmale beggarଭିକାରୁଣୀfemale beggar
ନୀବନ୍ଦୀmale prisonerବନ୍ଦିନୀfemale prisoner
ଧନାrich(m)ଧନିନୀrich(f)

Case

Case inflection is a common characteristic of inflectional languages and are also known as case markers or "ବିଭକ୍ତି" in Odia. It is both syntactical and morphological in nature. The function of the case is to indicate the grammatical or semantic relationships between nouns and also between nouns and verbs in a larger syntactic structure. There are 8 types of cases in Odia:

Cases (ବିଭକ୍ତି)
CaseNames of cases in OdiaSingularPlural
Nominativeକର୍ତ୍ତାକାରକ-ମାନେ, -ଏ
-māne, -e
Accusativeକର୍ମକାରକ-କୁ
-ku
-ମାନଙ୍କୁ
-mānanku
Dativeସମ୍ପ୍ରଦାନ କାରକ
Genitiveସମ୍ବନ୍ଧ କାରକ-ର
-ra
-ମାନଙ୍କର
-mānankara
Locativeଅଧିକରଣ କାରକ-ରେ, -ଠାରେ
-re, -ṭhāre
-ମାନଙ୍କରେ, -ମାନଙ୍କଠାରେ
-mānankare, -mānankaṭhāre
Instrumentalକରଣକାରକ-ରେ, -ଦ୍ୱାରା, -ଦେଇ
-re, -dwārā, -dera
-ମାନଙ୍କରେ, -ମାନଙ୍କଦ୍ୱାରା
-mānankare, -mānankadwārā
Ablativeଅପାଦାନ କାରକ-ରୁ, -ଠାରୁ
-ru, -ṭhāru
-ମାନଙ୍କରୁ, -ମାନଙ୍କଠାରୁ
-mānankaru, -mānankaṭhāru
Vocativeସମ୍ବୋଧକ କାରକହେ, ରେ, ହୋ

For Vocative case: Due to lack of synthetic inflectional morphemes, a vocative particle is used.

Pronouns

Pronouns are classified both notionally and morphologically.

Personal pronouns are of two types:

Personal Pronouns
PersonCasePronounSingularPronounPlural
1stDirectIମୁଁWeଆମେ
ଆମେମାନେ
ObliqueMe, My, Mineମୋ-Us, Our, Oursଆମ-
ଆମମାନଙ୍କ-
2ndDirectYouତୁ (informal)
ତୁମେ (formal)
ଆପଣ (honorific)
Youତୁମେମାନେ
ଆପଣମାନେ (honorific)
ObliqueYou, Your, Yoursତୋ- (informal)
ତୁମ- (formal)
ଆପଣଙ୍କ- (honorific)
You, Your, Yoursତୁମମାନଙ୍କ-
ଆପଣମାନଙ୍କ- (honorific)
3rd
(distal)
DirectHe/SheସେTheyସେମାନେ
ObliqueHim/Her, His/Hersତା- (informal)
ତାଙ୍କ- (formal)
Them/Their/Theirsସେମାନଙ୍କ-

Adjectives

Adjectives
Adjective typeEg.Meaning
adjectiveଭଲ ପୁଅgood boy
ନାଲି ଫୁଲred flower
adjective(numeral)-specifierଦଶଟି ଫୁଲten flowers
ପାଞ୍ଚଟା ଗାଁfive villages
ଜଣେ ଛାତ୍ରa student
ଦଶ ଜଣ ଶିକ୍ଷକten teachers
adjective(numeral)-quantity/measureପାଞ୍ଚ କିଲୋ ପରିବା5 kg vegetables
ଦଶ ଲିଟର ତେଲ10 ltr oil
adjective adjectiveଅତି ବଡ଼ ଘରvery big house
ଭାରି ସୁନ୍ଦର ପିଲାvery beautiful child
adverb adjectiveଧୀର ମିଠା କଥାsoft sweet talk
compound adverbକାନ୍ଦ କାନ୍ଦ ମୁଁହcrying face
ହସ ହସ ଭାବsmiling appearance
adverb verbal nounଧୀର ଚାଲିslow walking
ଚଞ୍ଚଳ ଖିଆquick eating
Derived Adjectives
TypeAdjective typeNoun/VerbEg.Meaning
Suffixnoun-āରୋଗରୋଗା ଲୋକill person
ଦକ୍ଷିଣଦକ୍ଷିଣା ପବନsouthern wind
verb-āଶୁଣଶୁଣା କଥାheard matter
ଜାଣଜଣା ଖବରknown news
noun verb-āଚାଉଳ, ଧୋଚାଉଳ ଧୁଆ ପାଣିrice-washed water
ଲୁଗା, କାଚ୍ଲୁଗା କଚା ସାବୁନ୍cloth washing soap
verb-iଗୁଣଗୁଣି ଲେକgood person
ଦାମ୍ଦାମି ଜିନିଷcostly thing

Postpositions

Postpositions used with Inflections: The postpositions which occur with nominal forms and function as both morphological and syntactic markers. They are added to the nominal stems formed by noun-genitive case markers.

Postpositions used with Inflections
PostpositionsMeaningPostpositionsMeaning
ଉପରେupପରିlike
ମଧ୍ୟରେbetweenଭଳିlike
ଭିତରେinପ୍ରତିper head
ତଳେunderଜଗୁଁbecause of
ପାଖରେnearହେତୁbecause of
ବଦଳରେinstead ofନେଇby
ନିକଟରେnearଦ୍ଵାରାby
ଠାରୁfromଦ୍ୱାରାby
ସକାସେforପାଇଁby
ନିମନ୍ତେforଠାରେat
ପରିବର୍ତ୍ତେinstead ofରୁପେlike

Indeclinable Postpositions: Those which do not have inflected suffixes, function as indeclinables.

Postpositions as Indeclinables
PostpositionsMeaningPostpositionsMeaning
ଭଳିlikeପରିlike
ହେଲେthenସବୁall
ସହିତwithସଙ୍ଗେwith
ନିମନ୍ତେforସାଥେwith
ମଧ୍ୟalsoଅନ୍ତେthen
ସହwithଜାକall

Classifiers

When a noun is enumerated, it takes a group of morphemes called classifiers.

When the number denotes 'one', then the structure of the phrase:

Eg- ଜଣେ ପିଲା – one child

When the numeral is more than 'one', then the structure is:

Eg- ଦୁଇ ଜଣ ପିଲା – two children

Classifiers have two types-

Nouns which occur with ଗୋଟା,ଗୋଟି or its variant -ଟା,-ଟି

Eg- ଗୋଟିଏ ପିଲା – one child, ଦୁଇଟି ପିଲା -two children
ଗୋଟିଏ ଘର – one house, ଦୁଇଟି ଘର – two houses

Other types of count nouns of human and non human forms include-

ଜଣେ ପିଲା – one child
ଖଣ୍ଡେ ଲୁଗା – one piece of cloth
ଗୋଛାଏ କାଠ – one bundle of wood
ଫାଳେ କାଠ – a half piece of wood
ଗଦାଏ କାଠ – one heap of wood
କିଲେ କାଠ – one kilo of wood
ଫୁଟେ କାଠ – one foot of wood
ବସ୍ତାଏ କାଠ – one sack of wood

Nouns which occur with ମେଞ୍ଚା

Eg- ମେଞ୍ଚାଏ କାଦୁଅ – a lump of mud

See also

Related Research Articles

In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. The main two categories are derivational and inflectional affixes. The first ones, such as -un, -ation, anti-, pre- etc, introduce a semantic change to the word they are attached to. The latter ones introduce a syntactic change, such as singular into plural, or present simple tense into present continuous or past tense by adding -ing, -ed to a word. All of them are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes.

In morphology and syntax, a clitic is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a word, but depends phonologically on another word or phrase. In this sense, it is syntactically independent but phonologically dependent—always attached to a host. A clitic is pronounced like an affix, but plays a syntactic role at the phrase level. In other words, clitics have the form of affixes, but the distribution of function words.

A lexeme is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken by a single root word. For example, in English, run, runs, ran and running are forms of the same lexeme, which can be represented as RUN.

A morpheme is the smallest meaningful constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morphology (linguistics)</span> Study of words, their formation, and their relationships in a word

In linguistics, morphology is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Morphology also looks at parts of speech, intonation and stress, and the ways context can change a word's pronunciation and meaning. Morphology differs from morphological typology, which is the classification of languages based on their use of words, and lexicology, which is the study of words and how they make up a language's vocabulary.

Morphological derivation, in linguistics, is the process of forming a new word from an existing word, often by adding a prefix or suffix, such as un- or -ness. For example, unhappy and happiness derive from the root word happy.

Fusional languages or inflected languages are a type of synthetic language, distinguished from agglutinative languages by their tendency to use a single inflectional morpheme to denote multiple grammatical, syntactic, or semantic features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agglutination</span> Process of word formation by combining morphemes of singular meaning

In linguistics, agglutination is a morphological process in which words are formed by stringing together morphemes, each of which corresponds to a single syntactic feature. Languages that use agglutination widely are called agglutinative languages. For example, in the agglutinative language of Turkish, the word evlerinizden consists of the morphemes ev-ler-iniz-den, literally translated morpheme-by-morpheme as house-plural-your(plural)-from. Agglutinative languages are often contrasted with isolating languages, in which words are monomorphemic, and fusional languages, in which words can be complex, but morphemes may correspond to multiple features.

A synthetic language is a language which is statistically characterized by a higher morpheme-to-word ratio. In contrast to analytic languages, which break up concepts into separate words, synthetic languages combine (synthesize) them into a single word. Syntactic roles embodied by a word, such as a subject or an object, are assigned by adding affixes. In the present-day English, once a fusional language, only a few remnants of its fusional origin are retained: for example, the role of an object is assigned to the word '"'who" by adding affix '"'m" to it ; tense is assigned by adding -ed and -ing to a verb; a possessive role is assigned by adding an apostrophe and 's' to it; by adding affix -er either a comparative form is assigned or verb is turned into a noun (teach-er). Analytic languages predominantly use auxiliary verbs and word order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madí language</span> Arawan language spoken in Brazil

Madí—also known as Jamamadí after one of its dialects, and also Kapaná or Kanamanti (Canamanti)—is an Arawan language spoken by about 1,000 Jamamadi, Banawá, and Jarawara people scattered over Amazonas, Brazil.

Morphological typology is a way of classifying the languages of the world that groups languages according to their common morphological structures. The field organizes languages on the basis of how those languages form words by combining morphemes. Analytic languages contain very little inflection, instead relying on features like word order and auxiliary words to convey meaning. Synthetic languages, ones that are not analytic, are divided into two categories: agglutinative and fusional languages. Agglutinative languages rely primarily on discrete particles for inflection, while fusional languages "fuse" inflectional categories together, often allowing one word ending to contain several categories, such that the original root can be difficult to extract. A further subcategory of agglutinative languages are polysynthetic languages, which take agglutination to a higher level by constructing entire sentences, including nouns, as one word.

In linguistics, a marker is a free or bound morpheme that indicates the grammatical function of the marked word, phrase, or sentence. Most characteristically, markers occur as clitics or inflectional affixes. In analytic languages and agglutinative languages, markers are generally easily distinguished. In fusional languages and polysynthetic languages, this is often not the case. For example, in Latin, a highly fusional language, the word amō is marked by suffix for indicative mood, active voice, first person, singular, present tense. Analytic languages tend to have a relatively limited number of markers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Word</span> Basic element of language

A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguists on its definition and numerous attempts to find specific criteria of the concept remain controversial. Different standards have been proposed, depending on the theoretical background and descriptive context; these do not converge on a single definition. Some specific definitions of the term "word" are employed to convey its different meanings at different levels of description, for example based on phonological, grammatical or orthographic basis. Others suggest that the concept is simply a convention used in everyday situations.

In linguistics, a grammatical category or grammatical feature is a property of items within the grammar of a language. Within each category there are two or more possible values, which are normally mutually exclusive. Frequently encountered grammatical categories include:

In linguistics, especially within generative grammar, phi features are the morphological expression of a semantic process in which a word or morpheme varies with the form of another word or phrase in the same sentence. This variation can include person, number, gender, and case, as encoded in pronominal agreement with nouns and pronouns. Several other features are included in the set of phi-features, such as the categorical features ±N (nominal) and ±V (verbal), which can be used to describe lexical categories and case features.

In linguistics, apophony is any alternation within a word that indicates grammatical information.

In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry grammatical information or lexical information . Inflection changes the grammatical properties of a word within its syntactic category. Derivational suffixes fall into two categories: class-changing derivation and class-maintaining derivation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inflection</span> Process of word formation

In linguistic morphology, inflection is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and definiteness. The inflection of verbs is called conjugation, and one can refer to the inflection of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, determiners, participles, prepositions and postpositions, numerals, articles, etc., as declension.

An agglutinative language is a type of synthetic language with morphology that primarily uses agglutination. In an agglutinative language, words contain multiple morphemes concatenated together, but in such a manner that individual word stems and affixes can be isolated and identified as to indicate a particular inflection or derivation, although this is not a rule: for example, Finnish is a typical agglutinative language, but morphemes are subject to consonant alternations called consonant gradation.

In linguistic typology, polysynthetic languages, formerly holophrastic languages, are highly synthetic languages, i.e., languages in which words are composed of many morphemes. They are very highly inflected languages. Polysynthetic languages typically have long "sentence-words" such as the Yupik word tuntussuqatarniksaitengqiggtuq.

References

  1. Mahapatra, B.P. (2002). Linguistic Survey of India: Orissa (PDF). Kolkata, India: Language Division, Office of the Registrar General. p. 36. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  2. Grierson, G.A. (1903–28). Linguistic Survey of India. India: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing. p. 367. Retrieved 31 October 2020.

Bibliography

Further reading