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fusional language

fusional language

9.9
A language where one part of a word shows several grammatical meanings like tense and number
  • noun
  • /ˈfjuːʒənl ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : lengua fusional
  • In a fusional language, a single suffix might indicate case, number, and gender at the same time.

Examples

  • Spanish is an example of a fusional language, where verb endings encode both tense and subject.

  • Many Indo-European languages, like Russian and Latin, are considered fusional languages.

  • Spanish is an example of a fusional language.

  • Many fusional languages have complex verb conjugations.

  • In a fusional language, a single suffix might indicate case, number, and gender at the same time.

  • Many Indo-European languages, like Russian and Latin, are considered fusional languages.

  • Spanish is an example of a fusional language, where verb endings encode both tense and subject.

Synonyms

synthetic language
vsfusional language
  • Specialized
9.4

A language that shows grammar by adding endings or small parts to words

is a specific type where single morphemes express several grammatical meanings

Antonyms

isolating
  • Specialized
1 8.8

A language where each word usually has one meaning and grammar comes from word order and small words

analytic
  • Specialized
6.8

Showing grammar with separate words rather than endings

How Fusional

polysynthetic
  • Specialized
9.9
fusional language
  • Specialized
9.9
agglutinative language
  • Specialized
9.9
isolating
  • Specialized
1 8.8

Surface Forms

Morphology

fusional + language

The phrase is compositionally transparent: 'fusional' describes the type of morphology (inflectional endings expressing multiple grammatical meanings) and 'language' names the linguistic system, so the combined meaning is directly derivable from the parts. Although technical, the adjective-noun composition follows standard patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand the phrase's basic meaning.

Etymology

Fusional language comes from the idea of parts being fused together, like small endings stuck to a word so they are hard to pull apart. So one ending can show 'tense', 'number', and 'case' at the same time, which is why we call it a fusional language.