Following Sapir's understanding of Polysynthesis, his student Benjamin Lee Whorf proposed a distinction between oligosynthetic and polysynthetic languages, where the former term was applied to languages with a very small number of morphemes of which all other lexical units are composed.
12.
In the 1890s the question of whether polysynthesis could be considered a general characteristic of Native American languages became a hotly contested issue as Brinton debated the question with Tuscarora and had studied the Iroquoian languages, that languages such as the Iroquois had grammatical rules and verbs just like European languages.
13.
Humboldt considered language structure to be an expression of the psychological stage of evolution of a people, and since Native Americans were considered uncivilized, polysynthesis came to be seen as the lowest stage of grammatical evolution, characterized by a lack of rigorous rules and clear organization known in European languages.
14.
At the next junction in the hierarchy, two parameters are at work : " optional polysynthesis " ( in which polysynthetic prefixes are possible, but not required ) and " head directionality, " which dictates whether modifiers and other new words are added before or after existing phrases.
15.
Often polysynthesis is achieved when languages have extensive Kiswahili word " nakupenda " " I love you " where the " n-" prefix marks agreement with the first person singular subject and the " ku "-prefix marks agreement with a second person singular object ).
16.
Duponceau's colleague Albert Gallatin contradicted this theory, arguing rather that synthesis was a sign of a lower cultural level, and that while the Greek and Latin languages were somewhat synthetic, Native American languages were much more so-and consequently polysynthesis was the hallmark of the lowest level of intellectual evolution.
17.
*Incorporation ( linguistics )-Just corrected it ( incorporation does not equal polysynthesis ) and got some stolen examples, but in-depth discussion would be welcome, as well as a distinction between incorporation and plain compounding .-- Pablo D . Flores 13 : 21, 27 Dec 2004 ( UTC)
18.
In fact, many " primitive " languages are actually more complex in many ways than the languages we're familiar with : polysynthesis is certainly not simple; perhaps the linguistic mixing and unstable influences in the histories of major language-family expansions have eradicated some of their former complexity, whereas small peoples who have been isolated and stable for millennia have had time to accrue all sorts of complexities and irrugularities . talk ) 15 : 10, 14 December 2009 ( UTC)
