Morphological leveling
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, morphological leveling is the generalization of an inflection
across a paradigm or between words. For example, the extension of the form is to persons such as I is and they is in some dialects of English is leveling, by analogy with a more frequent form, as is the reanalysis of English strong verb
s as weak verb
s, such as bode becoming bided or swoll becoming swelled. Another example is the way almost all the original English plural
suffix
es have disappeared, as a result of which there is only one general plural marker in contemporary English: -s.
When a language becomes less synthetic
, this is often a matter of morphological leveling. An example of this is the conjugation
of English verbs, which has become almost unchanging today (see also null morpheme
), thus contrasting sharply for example with Latin
, where one verb has dozens of forms, each one expressing a different aspect.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, morphological leveling is the generalization of an inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
across a paradigm or between words. For example, the extension of the form is to persons such as I is and they is in some dialects of English is leveling, by analogy with a more frequent form, as is the reanalysis of English strong verb
Strong verb
*for the strong inflection in various languages, see strong inflection*for irregular verbs, see irregular verb*for the strong verbs in Germanic languages, see Germanic strong verb...
s as weak verb
Weak verb
Weak verb may refer to:*light verb, or "semantically weak verb", verb participating in complex predication that has little semantic content of its own, but provides through inflection some details on the event semantics, such as aspect, mood, or tense...
s, such as bode becoming bided or swoll becoming swelled. Another example is the way almost all the original English plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
suffix
Suffix
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 or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es have disappeared, as a result of which there is only one general plural marker in contemporary English: -s.
When a language becomes less synthetic
Synthetic language
In linguistic typology, a synthetic language is a language with a high morpheme-per-word ratio, as opposed to a low morpheme-per-word ratio in what is described as an isolating language...
, this is often a matter of morphological leveling. An example of this is the conjugation
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
of English verbs, which has become almost unchanging today (see also null morpheme
Null morpheme
In morpheme-based morphology, a null morpheme is a morpheme that is realized by a phonologically null affix . In simpler terms, a null morpheme is an "invisible" affix. It is also called a zero morpheme; the process of adding a null morpheme is called null affixation, null derivation or zero...
), thus contrasting sharply for example with Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, where one verb has dozens of forms, each one expressing a different aspect.