What is an agglutinative language?

Definition
	An agglutinative language is a language in which words are made up of a linear sequence of distinct morphemes and each component of meaning is represented by its own morpheme.

Example: Chukchi (Northeastern Siberia)

t*E -meyN*E -levt*E -p*E*ft -*Erk*En

1 Sg -great -head -ache -Imperfective

I have a fierce headache.

This example consists of one word made up of five morphemes.

Source:

Bickford and Daly 1996:Chap. F-3, page 6

Contrast
	The opposite of a highly agglutinative language is a highly fusional language.

Concept module: agglutinative language
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): A
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004