Fusion language structure
In the language typology according to Wilhelm von Humboldt and August Wilhelm Schlegel, a fusional language structure is a subspecies of the synthetic language structure . In a so-called fusional language, the grammatical function of a word is identified by adding affixes , the affixing .
Good examples of fusional languages are Latin and German . Most of the Indo-European languages have fusional elements. - example:
A Latin word like clamat 'he / she / it calls' can be used to illustrate the functionality of a fusional language. clamat can be broken down into the morpheme clama- and the affix -t . The latter contains the information about the grammatical categories person , number and gender verbi , in this case “3. Person Singular (Present Indicative) Active “. Changing one of these categories requires a complete change in the affix.
Delimitations of agglutinating or inflecting languages
The agglutinating languages are opposed to the fusional languages, which amalgamate different grammatical categories through affixes . The term fusional language describes an umbrella term, since most fusional languages are mostly or at the same time also inflected languages. The difference between agglutinating and fusional languages is not sharp. Purely agglutinating or purely fusional languages are rare.
It differs from agglutinating languages in that an affix expresses the value of several grammatical determinations, while in an agglutinating language each grammatical category is represented by a single affix. The fusional languages use fewer affixes, and affixes which express not just one but several grammatical categories. Multiple pieces of information are fused into a single affix .
