Polysynthesis: A review

The notion of polysynthesis was introduced two centuries
ago and is still widely used in linguistic typology, as
well as in linguistic theory and even language description.
Nevertheless, several of its features make it unappealing
as a technical term. First, there is no consensus
as to which of the competing, partially overlapping,
definitions is to be preferred. Second, the different
structural phenomena covered by the label show variation
both across and within languages; the term is in
need of qualification to be precise. Third, neither the
synchronic distribution nor the diachronic origins of
the phenomena involved is well understood. Fourth,
even though the term is essentially framed in typological
terms, no robust cross‐linguistic generalizations
based on it have been hitherto found. The present
paper surveys these features and argues that the notion
can be used nonimpressionistically only if defined more
cogently and more restrictively.