The notion of polysynthesis was introduced two centuries ago and is still widely used in linguistic typology, as well as in linguistic theory and even language description. Nevertheless, several of its features make it unappealing as a technical term. First, there is no consensus as to which of the competing, partially overlapping, definitions is to be preferred. Second, the different structural phenomena covered by the label show variation both across and within languages; the term is in need of qualification to be precise. Third, neither the synchronic distribution nor the diachronic origins of the phenomena involved is well understood. Fourth, even though the term is essentially framed in typological terms, no robust cross‐linguistic generalizations based on it have been hitherto found. The present paper surveys these features and argues that the notion can be used nonimpressionistically only if defined more cogently and more restrictively.

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多合成：评论

多合成的概念是在两个世纪前引入的，至今仍广泛用于语言类型学，语言理论甚至语言描述中。但是，它的几个功能使其在技术上并不吸引人。首先，对于哪个竞争，部分重叠的定义是更可取的，尚无共识。其次，标签所涵盖的不同结构现象显示出语言之间和语言内部的差异。该术语需要精确的限定条件。第三，所涉及现象的共时分布和历时起源都没有被很好地理解。第四，即使该术语本质上是类型学上的框架，迄今仍未找到基于该术语的可靠的跨语言概括。