Lexical Typology

Numerals are not considered a basic lexical category because they are not open-class, meaning new numerals are not easily created in the same way that new nouns, verbs, and adjectives can be.

In languages with noun classes, the class of a noun is typically determined by a combination of semantic features, syntactic function, and morphological properties.

While singular vs. plural, masculine vs. feminine, and animate vs. inanimate are all common lexical contrasts found in languages, human vs. non-human is not typically a lexical contrast.

Oligosynthetic languages are characterized by a relatively small number of basic lexical categories, with complex words formed by combining multiple morphemes.

Circumfixes are not derivational affixes, but rather a type of affix that surrounds a root or stem.

Polysynthetic languages are characterized by a relatively large number of basic lexical categories, with words often consisting of multiple morphemes.

Ablaut is not an inflectional affix, but rather a type of vowel change that can be used to indicate grammatical distinctions.

Analytic languages are characterized by a relatively small number of morphemes per word, with grammatical distinctions typically indicated by separate words.

Synthetic compounding is not a type of compounding, but rather a type of word formation in which morphemes are combined to form new words.

Synthetic languages are characterized by a relatively large number of morphemes per word, with grammatical distinctions typically indicated by affixes.

Cognates are not a type of lexical borrowing, but rather words that share a common origin in an ancestral language.

Oligosynthetic languages are characterized by a relatively small number of phonemes, with complex words formed by combining multiple morphemes.

Coinage is not a type of lexical innovation, but rather the process of creating a new word.

Polysynthetic languages are characterized by a relatively large number of phonemes, with words often consisting of multiple morphemes.

Grammatical change is not a type of lexical change, but rather a type of language change that affects the grammar of a language.