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The secret of convergent languages: Do you know how multilingual synthesis changes grammatical structure?
In linguistics, compounding is a grammatical phenomenon in which a grammatical category, such as a verb, is able to form a compound with its direct object (an object compound) or an adverbial modifier, while retaining its original syntactic function. The resulting vocabulary includes nouns, narrowing the scope of the verb rather than pointing to a specific entity. Synthesis is at the heart of many polysynthetic languages, such as those of North America, Siberian Russia, and northern Australia. However, polysynthesis does not necessarily imply inclusion, and a language in which composition exists is not necessarily a polysynthesis language.
The linguistic diversity of synthetic phenomena makes it difficult to provide a universal and comprehensive definition.
The phenomenon of composition manifests itself differently in many languages. For example, in English, although compounding does not occur frequently, it does occasionally occur with verbs such as "breastfeed" and "babysit." These verbs are usually formed from adjectives or nouns. In one example, English also encounters many boundary-blurring situations, such as "backstabbing" (betrayal), "name-calling" (nicknaming), etc.
In other languages, the phenomenon of composition may be more common. In the Oneida language of the American Indian language family, noun synthesis is an obvious example. Here is a sentence whose verb root "hninu" is combined with its regular verb form, showing how verbs can be extended and expressed through synthesis. To further clarify, noun synthesis often changes the semantics, making its statement into a more specific or general expression.
In Yucatec Maya, there is a sentence "I cut down a tree." When the word "tree" is synthesized, the meaning becomes "I cut wood."
The grammatical structure of synthesis is not only related to the transitivity of the verb, but also affects the structure of the sentence. Mithun (1985) proposed a four-category system to define the function and progression of noun synthesis in a language. The four types are vocabulary synthesis, case role manipulation, discourse structure manipulation, and category synthesis. These different types show the diversity of compositions in different languages, and most languages generally follow these four structures.
In the case of English, the products of noun synthesis are usually new verbs, and these nouns lose their grammatical features during the synthesis process. As language evolves, noun synthesis becomes more common, allowing us to observe language expansion and change. The verb "house-hunt," for example, shows how nouns can be combined with verbs to create new grammatical structures.
The boundaries and rules of synthetic languages have always been a hot topic in linguistics. Some languages, such as Mohawk, have extremely common composition structures, while others, such as English, have more limited compositions. Scholars have conducted various theoretical discussions to try to understand the reason behind the phenomenon of synthesis. Whether it is due to grammatical structure or dictionary rules is still a difficult problem.
In different languages, the specific implementation and meaning of synthesis invariably reflect the language needs and usage habits of different cultures.
Combined with what we know about the synthesis phenomenon, multilingual synthesis has undoubtedly changed the grammatical structure, making language more flexible and full of changes in expression. This not only promotes the innovative development of language, but also provides rich examples and analysis space for linguistic research. Ultimately, we have to ask, can the phenomenon of synthesis continue to drive the evolution of languages, making them even more diverse and rich in the face of new communication needs?
