[3] Derivational and relational morphology represent opposite ends of a spectrum; that is, a single word in a given language may exhibit varying degrees of both of them simultaneously.
[3] The morphemes being synthesized in the following examples either belong to a particular grammatical class – such as adjectives, nouns, or prepositions – or are affixes that usually have a single form and meaning: Aufsichtsupervision-s- Ratcouncil-s- MitgliedermembersVersammlungassemblyAufsicht -s- Rat -s- Mitglieder Versammlungsupervision {} council {} members assembly"Meeting of members of the supervisory board"προpropreπαρ-parnext toοξύoxýsharpτόνtónpitch/tone-ησις-esistendencyπρο παρ- οξύ τόν -ησιςpro par oxý tón -esispre {next to} sharp pitch/tone tendency"Tendency to accent on the proparoxytone [third-to-last] position"przystańharbor-ekDIMprzystań -ekharbor DIM"Public transportation stop [without facilities]" (i.e. bus stop, tram stop, or rail halt)—compare to dworzec.anti-againstdis-endingestablishto institute-mentNS-arianadvocate-ismideologyanti- dis- establish -ment -arian -ismagainst ending {to institute} NS advocate ideology"the movement to prevent revoking the Church of England's status as the official church [of England, Ireland, and Wales].
"достоdostodeservingпримечательнprimečátelʹnnotable-ость-ostʹNSдосто примечательн -остьdosto primečátelʹn -ostʹdeserving notable NS"Place of interest"نوازnavâzplay musicــنده-ande-ingــگی-giNSنواز ــنده ــگیnavâz -ande -gi{play music} -ing NS"musicianship" or "playing a musical instrument"наnadirection/intentвзvzadjectiveдоdoapproachгінhinfast movementна вз до гінna vz do hin{direction/intent} {adjective} {approach} {fast movement}"after something or someone that is moving away"hyper-highcholesterolcholesterol-emiabloodhyper- cholesterol -emiahigh cholesterol bloodthe presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood.In relational synthesis, root words are joined to bound morphemes to show grammatical function.
[3] In the following examples many of the morphemes are related to voice (e.g. passive voice), whether a word is in the subject or object of the sentence, possession, plurality, or other abstract distinctions in a language: comuniccommunicate-andoGERveyou.PLlethose.FEM.PLcomunic -ando ve lecommunicate GER you.PL those.FEM.PL"Communicating those[feminine plural] to you[plural]"escribwriteiéndoGERmemeloitescrib iéndo me lowrite GER me it"Writing it to me"ango-emwe-se/-nosourselves-en/'nfroman -em -se/-nos -en/'ngo we ourselves from"Let's get out of here"ōPASTc3SG-OBJāwaterltiCAUSzquiyaIRRō c ā lti zquiyaPAST 3SG-OBJ water CAUS IRR"She would have bathed him"comtogetherprimcrushunttheyurPASScom prim unt urtogether crush they PASS"They are crushed together"見miseeさせsaseCAUSられrarePASSがたいgataidifficult見 させ られ がたいmi sase rare gataisee CAUS PASS difficult"It's difficult to be shown [this]"juostarun-ellaFREQ-isinI.COND-koQ-hanCASjuosta -ella -isin -ko -hanrun FREQ I.COND Q CAS"I wonder if I should run around [aimlessly]"házhouse-aPOSS-iPL-tokyour.PL-baninház -a -i -tok -banhouse POSS PL your.PL in"In your houses"szeretlove-lekI REFL youszeret -leklove {I REFL you}"I love you"AfyonkarahisarAfyonkarahisar-lıcitizen of-laştransform-tırPASS-amanotbe(y)(thematic)-abilable-ecekFUT-lerPL-imizwe-denamongmisiniz?you-PL-FUT-QAfyonkarahisar -lı -laş -tır -ama (y) -abil -ecek -ler -imiz -den misiniz?Afyonkarahisar {citizen of} transform PASS notbe (thematic) able FUT PL we among you-PL-FUT-Q"Are you[plural/formal] amongst the ones whom we might not be able to make citizens of Afyonkarahisar?
(The word describes the whole sentence that incorporates tense, subject, object, relation between them, direction of the action, conditional and causative markers etc.
[1][5] Polysynthetic languages are considered the most synthetic of the three types because they combine multiple stems as well as other morphemes into a single continuous word.
The Chinese language of the classic works (of Confucius for example) and southern dialects to a certain extent is more strictly monosyllabic: each character represents one word.
For instance, in the Southern dialects of American English, it is not unusual for the short vowel sounds [ɪ] and [ɛ] to be indistinguishable before nasal consonants: thus the words "pen" and "pin" are homophones (see pin-pen merger).
The definite articles are not only suffixes but are also noun inflections expressing thought in a synthetic manner.
desthe.GEN.SGHauseshouse.GEN.SGdes Hausesthe.GEN.SG house.GEN.SG'the house's'vonofdemthe.DAT.SGHaushouse.DAT.SGvon dem Hausof the.DAT.SG house.DAT.SG'of the house'It has been argued that analytic grammatical structures are easier for adults learning a foreign language.
A 2010 paper in PLOS ONE suggests that evidence for this hypothesis can be seen in correlations between morphological complexity and factors such as the number of speakers of a language, geographic spread, and the degree of inter-linguistic contact.