Periphrasis
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, periphrasis is a device by which a grammatical category
or grammatical relationship is expressed by a free morpheme (typically one or more function word
s modifying a content word), instead of being shown by inflection
or derivation
. For example, the English
future tense is periphrastic: it is formed with an auxiliary verb
(shall or will) followed by the base form of the main verb. Another example is the comparative
and superlative
forms of adjectives, when they are formed with the words more and most rather than with the suffix
es -er and -est: the forms more beautiful and most beautiful are periphrastic, while lovelier and loveliest are not.
Periphrasis is a characteristic of analytic languages, which tend to avoid inflection. Even synthetic language
s, which are highly inflected, sometimes make use of periphrasis to fill out an inflectional paradigm that is missing certain forms. An example is the third person
plural
of the perfect passive in Ancient Greek
:
A comparison of some Latin
forms with their English translations shows that English uses periphrasis in many instances where Latin uses inflection:
from Ancient Greek
períphrasis "roundabout speech", which comes from perí "around" and phrásis "expression", from phrázō "tell".
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, periphrasis is a device by which a grammatical category
Grammatical category
A grammatical category is a semantic distinction which is reflected in a morphological paradigm. Grammatical categories can have one or more exponents. For instance, the feature [number] has the exponents [singular] and [plural] in English and many other languages...
or grammatical relationship is expressed by a free morpheme (typically one or more function word
Function word
Function words are words that have little lexical meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker...
s modifying a content word), instead of being shown by inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
or derivation
Derivation (linguistics)
In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g. happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine...
. For example, the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
future tense is periphrastic: it is formed with an auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verb
In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...
(shall or will) followed by the base form of the main verb. Another example is the comparative
Comparative
In grammar, the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another, and is used in this context with a subordinating conjunction, such as than,...
and superlative
Superlative
In grammar, the superlative is the form of an adjective that indicates that the person or thing modified has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to in a given context. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix -est In...
forms of adjectives, when they are formed with the words more and most rather than with the suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es -er and -est: the forms more beautiful and most beautiful are periphrastic, while lovelier and loveliest are not.
Periphrasis is a characteristic of analytic languages, which tend to avoid inflection. Even synthetic language
Synthetic language
In linguistic typology, a synthetic language is a language with a high morpheme-per-word ratio, as opposed to a low morpheme-per-word ratio in what is described as an isolating language...
s, which are highly inflected, sometimes make use of periphrasis to fill out an inflectional paradigm that is missing certain forms. An example is the third person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
plural
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
of the perfect passive in Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
:
- πέπεισται pépeistai "he has been persuaded"
- πεπεισμένοι εἰσί pepeisménoi eisí "they have been persuaded"
A comparison of some Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
forms with their English translations shows that English uses periphrasis in many instances where Latin uses inflection:
| Latin (inflected) | English (periphrastic) |
|---|---|
| stēllae | of a star |
| patientissimus | most patient |
| amāberis | you will be loved |
Etymology
The word is adaptedLoanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
from Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
períphrasis "roundabout speech", which comes from perí "around" and phrásis "expression", from phrázō "tell".
See also
- AdpositionAdpositionPrepositions are a grammatically distinct class of words whose most central members characteristically express spatial relations or serve to mark various syntactic functions and semantic roles...
- Analytic language
- Compound verbCompound verbIn linguistics, a compound verb or complex predicate is a multi-word compound that acts as a single verb. One component of the compound is a light verb or vector, which carries any inflections, indicating tense, mood, or aspect, but provides only fine shades of meaning...
- Deflexion (linguistics)Deflexion (linguistics)Deflexion is a linguistic process related to inflectional languages. All members of the Indo-European language family belong to these kinds of languages and are subject to some degree of deflexional change. The process is typified by the degeneration of the inflectional structure of a language...
- Grammatical particleGrammatical particleIn grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
- PhrasePhraseIn everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....