Question

In morphology, what is an analytic language?

• A. A language that uses many bound morphemes
• B. A language that relies on word order rather than inflection
• C. A language with complex verb conjugations
• D. A language with few function words

Answer 1

Answer:

A. A language that uses many bound morphemes

• In morphology, an analytic language is a type of language that relies heavily on word order and separate grammatical particles to convey meaning, rather than using inflectional morphology (changing the form of a word to indicate grammatical function), meaning words in an analytic language mostly consist of single morphemes with minimal affixation; essentially, each word usually carries only one meaning and grammatical relationships are shown through separate words like prepositions and auxiliary verbs. 

• Minimal inflection: Words change very little to indicate grammatical function. 

• Reliance on word order: The position of words in a sentence is crucial for understanding meaning. 

• Separate grammatical particles: Words like prepositions and auxiliary verbs are used to express grammatical relationships.