Inflexional Languages

The power to expre grammatical or formal relations not by the mere addition of other words to the word in question, root or stem, but by a change within the root or stem itself, distinguishes the higher groups of languages. Thus the plural of man is expre ed by a change of vowel, men; further, a root or word once added to another word loses its independence and becomes a merely inflexional syllable, as -ly in adverbs from the word like, or as the endings which expre case, person and number. In the widest sense, all languages except Chinese, and related dialects, are inflexional; but the power to join two roots and make each lose its independence in a new combination is limited to the Aryan and Semitic groups. Inflorescence. See ANTHOTAXY. Inflorescence, DEFINITE. See CYMOSE. Inflorescence, INDEFINITE. See BOTRYOSE. Inflorescence, INDETERMINATE. See BOTRYOSE.