IS MdE AN ISOLATING LANGUAGE???

This is not really defined in some particular way;but it becomes an isolating language
According to Blevins,in morphological typology there are 2 indexes:
1)Index of syntesis(IS)=> IS is the number if morphemes per word(M/W).There is distinction between
Isolating lang(analytic) and Polysynthetic (inflecting or synthetic)we count the number of words and
morphemes. Ex:In MdE(Greenberg):analytic-is=1.00 to 1.99(1Morpheme per word); Inflecting-synteticis=2.00 to 2.99; Inflecting-polysyntethic -is> 3.00
So,mode Is=1.68 (analytic-isolating); OE IS=2.12=(synthetic); russian is polynsynthetic
2)Index of Fusion(IF)-The extend to which the morphemes within word are segmentable.
There is distincion between Functional and Agglutinating.According to greenberg "index of
agglutinating"=the ratio of agglutinative construction to morph juncture(morpheme boundary) (A/J)
a)Agglutinative construction-const. of at least 2 morphemes who are rather predictable(either are
invariable(dont change) or change in predictability ways)
b)Fusional-often we cannot draw a morphological boundary in a word Ex:case and number for N;isnt
easy definaible and express more semantic units.The index of Fussion is not connected to Ideal
Lang,because at least some words are composed of more morphemes.Ex:3p.sg- he/she reads-pr.t.;
sg; 3thperson --->there isnt morphological boundary so we cannot devide into 3 sounds
*From present day synchronic perspective we cannot explain which word explains
tense,person,number Ex:hodeshe-past t.;3th person;sg number
So fusion =1Morpheme has multiple grammatical categories
Isolating
Agglutinating
Inflecting
sem.unit
X (1morph per word)
X X X
XXX
XX
I
I I I
morph
X
X X X
X
X
I
morph
X
X
X
<-------------------------------------------------------------------->
analytical
synthetic
Eng has moved from very synthetic to isolating.
***Solntsev-Isolating=here,syntactic relation is not marked within the from of the word.
Language belong to 2 macro types:
1)Form isolating-these are isolating languages there arent any syntactic dependencies between the
forms of the words.There isnt morphology which tells us about the syntatic relation EX:faster-degree of
comparison of adj;not extending in any way to other elements.
2)Form-Linking Lang-there are syntatic dependencies between the form of the words;these are
linked and there is morphology which tells us syntactic relations.These are non-isolating lang.
EX:him(case=> he turns to him=>with N,number.There is dependencu on syntactic dunction in
lang(N+V;Adj+NP); So trought Semantic(which combines morphology +syntactic) we can notice the
morphosyntactic class ifications.
A)Form-Linking categories in OE-prooved that OE is more non-isolating or Form-linking lanf.There
are dependencies between Adj and Noun Ex: drvena masa,drven stol; Ex:In the ccategory Verb there
are 2 numbers + 3 persons which depend on subject; Ex: Noun- case(4) nom,
accusative,dative,gen.number(2) Adjective:case(4-5); number (2), gender(3) degree of
comparation(3)definiteness(2) Verb- mood(3);tense(2), number(2) person(3); number and subject
depend of subject. Form-linking markers 20 out at 30 (67%)
B)From-Linking categories in MdE-form-linking markers 6 out od 22 (27%)
-Noun: number(2) case(2); Adjective: degree of comparation(3);
Verb:mood(3),tense(2),perfetivity(2),modality(2),number(2),person(2)-either 3p-sg or other. MdE has
become more isolating lang!!!
Concomitant features of isolating languages
i.complex tonal systems;speech sounds do not independently create semantic contrasts
ii.limited number of possible syllables;syllable = morpheme
iii.monosyllabic morphemes;morpheme = simple word;little allomorphy
iv.mostly disyllabic compound words;limited affixation but many semi-affixes;grammatical affixes
agglutinative

v.fixed word order;syntactic relations:through word order and functional words

*Serial verb constructions:sequences of verbs in which there are no markers indicating the
relationship between them, e.g. Mandarin
Ex:I am taking a plane to go from Shanghai to Beijing.
Relationship between verbs in ModE catenativeconstructions are marked in the forms of verbs.
***Syntactic linkage in traditional grammar:
a)Juxtaposition:linear arrangement of elements,relationships indicated by relative order-form
isolation
b)Agreement: dependent constituent copiescategories marked on head-form linking
c)Government: head imposesa category on dependent;the category is marked in dependent only,
not in head-form linking
*Verbs governing verbs in ModE
Catenation: enjoy hunting; want to hunt
Periphrastic verb forms:could have been being examined
=> Government very prominent in ModE VP

Is present-day English an isolating language?No.(Ornot yet.)