adjective
- not characterized by or involving inflection; not showing changes in form to indicate grammatical relationships such as tense, number, or case
Usage: linguistics; formal
Examples
- English is largely a noninflectional language compared to Latin or German.
- The noninflectional nature of Mandarin Chinese makes it easier for some learners to master basic grammar.
- In noninflectional languages, word order carries much of the grammatical meaning.
- Modern English has become increasingly noninflectional over centuries of linguistic change.
- Linguists often contrast noninflectional and inflectional language systems when studying typology.