Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 919polysyndetonThe use of more conjunctions than ordinary usage demands. Stephen Crane employed apolysyndeton in writing The horizon narrowed and widened, and dipped and rose, and atall times its edge was jagged with waves. A polysyndeton can either emphasize the lengthof items enumerated or underscore the distinctiveness of each item from the others.figure of speechReferencespolysynthesisPhenomenon common, among others, to some native American languages, wherecomplex words are formed from morphemes of different types. Polysynthesis mayinvolve incorporation, but need not necessarily do so. But in contrast to incorporation,these morphemes occur only as bound morphemes, never as free morphemes (e.g. theone-word sentence from Onondage ( Iroquoian) a? akwan, ohsahnin, ony, ó? ‘we arebuying the houses’ with the verb root -hnin,o- ‘to buy,’ the subject -akwa-‘we,’ and theobject -n, ohsa- ‘house’ with the plural marker -ny, ó-, which can only occur as elementsof complex words.ReferencesMithun. M. 1983. The genius of polysynthesis. In J.S. Thayer (ed.), North American Indians:humanistic perspectives. Norman, OK.Sasse, H.-J. 1988. Der irokesische Sprachtyp. ZS 7. 173–213.