inflectional
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or used in inflection.
an inflectional ending.
-
Linguistics. pertaining to or noting a language, as Latin, characterized by the use of inflection, especially morphemic fusion or irregular morphophonemic alternation.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inflectional
First recorded in 1825–35; inflection + -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In Humboldt's classification of language, the Chinese, as we know, is called the isolating as distinguished from the more highly evolved agglutinative, and the still more highly evolved inflectional.
From The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria by W. Scott-Elliot
The inflectional or formal elements of language are usually derived from words expressing accessory ideas.
From The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt With the Translation of an Unpublished Memoir by Him on the American Verb by Daniel Garrison Brinton
Other philosophers imagine that the combination of roots to form agglutinative and inflectional language is, like the first formation of roots, the result of a natural instinct.
From Lectures on The Science of Language by Max Müller
As long as in these sesquipedalian compounds, the significative root remains distinct, they belong to the agglutinative stage; as soon as it is absorbed by the terminations, they belong to the inflectional stage.
From Lectures on The Science of Language by Max Müller
The fact, therefore, that languages, if once settled, do not change their grammatical constitution, is no argument against our theory, that every inflectional language was once agglutinative, and every agglutinative language was once monosyllabic.
From Lectures on The Science of Language by Max Müller
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