morphosyntax Linguistics.
(mɔːfəʊˈsɪntæks)
[f. Gr. µορϕ-ή form + syntax 2.]
A branch of linguistic study which combines the study of morphology and syntax.
| 1961 F. W. Householder in Saporta & Bastian Psycholinguistics 23/2 So also in morpho-syntax it should be possible to agree on definitions for terms like ‘noun phrase’, ‘verb phrase’, ‘sentence’, etc. 1967 Word XXIII. 472 In morpho-syntax the sequential chain model should perhaps not be completely disregarded. 1968 Y. Malkiel Essays on Linguistic Themes i. 3 A few scholars have gone so far as to consolidate all of morphology and syntax into the single domain of ‘morphosyntax’, which forms the hard, inalienable kernel of linguistics. 1969 tr. Akhmanova & Mikael'an's Theory Syntax Mod. Linguistics ii. 26 He [sc. Br{obar}ndal] not only remained faithful to his conception of ‘morphology’ and syntax, but also developed it by introducing the notion of ‘morphosyntax’ to cover such phenomena as the functioning of words in sentences, the semantic modification of words in context, [etc.]. 1972 Archivum Linguisticum III. 89 As a final instance of the general validity of a systematic approach to diachronic morpho-syntax, let us examine a well-documented change within the verbal system of Romance. |
Hence morphosynˈtactic a., morphosynˈtactically adv.
| 1959 F. W. Householder in Word XV. 232 It does not appear that languages have a semantic structure which is separate and distinct from the morpho-syntactic one. 1962 H. C. Conklin in Householder & Saporta Problems in Lexicography 119 While an ‘appeal’ to meaning does not improve grammatical analysis, neither does an intuitive appeal to morphosyntactic form yield the most appropriate analysis of meaning and reference. Ibid. 121 The compounds firewater and silverfish..are endocentric morphosyntactically. 1968 Word XXIV. 55 The United States dialect refers to any variety of English set off from other varieties of English, phonetically, morphosyntactically, or lexically. 1969 tr. Akhmanova & Mikael'an's Theory Syntax Mod. Linguistics v. 119 The words..had to have canonical phonemic shapes, to ‘behave’ morphophonemically and morphosyntactically. 1970 Language XLVI. 332 The proposal does not spell out how one gets from the morphosyntactic surface structure to the phonemics. |