Abstract:The study of polysynthesis has a long history; but defining it remains a challenge and many researchers have suggested that polysynthesis is not an absolute or unified phenomenon. In this entry, drawing largely on examples from Inuktut and Blackfoot, two Indigenous languages of Canada, we describe the range of grammatical properties that have been proposed to characterize polysynthetic languages. We show that both languages possess all the properties canonically associated with polysynthesis – holophrasis, ric… Show more
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