"inflectional phrase"の定義と意味

What is an "inflectional phrase"?

An inflectional phrase is a grammatical structure that includes an inflectional morpheme, which is a suffix or prefix that modifies a word to express grammatical features such as tense, mood, number, or case. This phrase typically consists of a base word, known as the root, along with the inflectional morpheme that alters its form. For example, in the word "running," the root "run" is combined with the inflectional morpheme "-ing" to indicate the present participle form. In another example, the noun "cats" includes the root "cat" and the inflectional morpheme "-s" to denote plural. Inflectional phrases are essential for conveying grammatical relationships and meanings in a language, as they help specify the roles and functions of words within sentences. Understanding inflectional phrases is important for analyzing how words change form to express different grammatical aspects.