In synthetic languages, which aspect is more central to conveying grammatical relations?

In synthetic languages, which aspect is more central to conveying grammatical relations?

• A. Morphology is central for grammar.
• B. Word order is the sole cue.
• C. Prosody carries all grammatical information.
• D. Syntax is not expressed in morphology.

Answer: (A)

In synthetic languages, grammar is carried mainly by morphology. Rich inflection and affixes attach to nouns, verbs, and adjectives to mark roles like subject or object (case), number, tense, mood, and agreement. Because of these endings, you can reshuffle word order and still know who is doing what to whom—the relationships are encoded in the word forms themselves. Prosody doesn’t carry the core grammatical information, and word order isn’t the sole cue; plus, syntax is expressed through the interaction of morphology and structure, not absent from morphology. That’s why morphology being central best explains how grammatical relations are conveyed in synthetic languages.

In synthetic languages, grammar is carried mainly by morphology. Rich inflection and affixes attach to nouns, verbs, and adjectives to mark roles like subject or object (case), number, tense, mood, and agreement. Because of these endings, you can reshuffle word order and still know who is doing what to whom—the relationships are encoded in the word forms themselves. Prosody doesn’t carry the core grammatical information, and word order isn’t the sole cue; plus, syntax is expressed through the interaction of morphology and structure, not absent from morphology. That’s why morphology being central best explains how grammatical relations are conveyed in synthetic languages.