Historical Survey on Formalization Efforts of Natural Languages

Abstract

Morphology, defined as the science of forms and structures, relates also to auditive and phonographic utterances and the analysis of word forms. Sequence rules of words are subject to syntax. Though agreement still exists on the meaning of the terminus morpheme, the meanings of morph and allomorph are not unanimously acknowledged. Competent language structuralists emphasize repeatedly that the lack of generally valid content definitions of the terminus word might be one of the reasons for widespread terminological confusion. Up to now morphology was tied too much to particularities of single national languages or even social facts. Morphology should rather develop generally valid methods for structural language analyses applicable to any human language.