Inflection vs. Syntax: Analyzing Synthetic and Analytical Grammatical Forms

Inflection vs. Syntax: Analyzing Grammatical Forms

The difference between a synthetic and an analytical form or expression is fundamentally related to the mechanism by which grammatical meanings are conveyed. Whereas synthetic languages rely on inflection, analytical languages require syntactic combinations to convey such meanings.

Defining Synthetic and Analytical Forms

• Synthetic languages use inflection (affixes or morphemes added to a word) to express grammatical features, such as verbal tense, person, or number.
• Analytical languages require syntactic combinations (using multiple words, auxiliaries, or prepositions) to convey these same meanings.

Case Studies: Adjectives and Possessives

Consider the following examples:

1. More complicated
2. Peter’s dog

Example 1, “More complicated,” illustrates an analytical procedure used to generate the comparative degree of the adjective complicated by adding the adverb more to it. This requires a syntactic combination.

If the adjective were a shorter one, the mechanism used to form the comparative would be synthetic because the suffix -er would be added to the adjective by means of inflection. An instance of this is “shorter,” which displays the suffix -er and is therefore a synthetic form.

Case 2, “Peter’s dog,” is considered synthetic because it expresses possession by adding the morpheme ’s to the noun Peter. It conveys a grammatical meaning by means of inflection rather than by combining a group of words.

If we wished to express something similar using an analytical mechanism, we often refer to inanimate objects (which are typically not inflected in the genitive form). For instance, “The leg of the table” conveys possession using a prepositional phrase (a syntactic combination). While the meaning is similar, the procedure employed to express it is purely analytical.

Verbal Forms: Tense and Aspect Across Languages

The difference between a synthetic and an analytical form is clearly visible when analyzing verbal structures. Synthetic languages resort to inflection as a mechanism to express verbal tense, person, or number, while analytical languages require syntactic combinations or lexical choice.

Synthetic Mechanisms in European Languages

If we observe the examples provided, Spanish, Italian, French, and German employ a synthetic mechanism in the formation of the past continuous/simple (e.g., pretérito imperfecto/perfecto simple). The verb indicates tense, mood, aspect, person, and number through inflection:

• Spanish: cantábamos
• Italian: cantavamo
• French: chantions
• German: sangen

The Analytical Nature of English Verbs

The English verb is often the exception since it frequently uses a compound form. For example, in continuous tenses, the verb to be acts as an auxiliary (expressing tense, mood, person, and number) combined with the main verb in the -ing form.

Although the main verb might be considered partially synthetic because of the -ing morpheme, the verbal phrase as a whole is labeled analytical. This is because it is the result of the combination of two distinct verbal forms (auxiliary + main verb).