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<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to supply me with comments and references on this query; they were very helpful. To summarize,
<i>deflexie </i>has been used for a long time in Dutch, and ‘deflexion’/’deflection’ in reference to the loss of inflection appears to have come into English through Dutch linguists towards the end of the last century. This seems to have been done without any
comment that it was a neologism—which, given the fact that <i>deflexie </i>was a well-established term in the Dutch historical linguistics tradition, is hardly surprising. ‘Deflection’ is also sometimes used in a very different meaning as a nominalization
of the verb ‘deflect’ (‘knock off course).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best wishes to all,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cindy/Cynthia<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Dr Cynthia L. Allen FAHA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Emeritus Fellow, Australian National University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Baldessin Precinct Building Room W2.09<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">School of Literature, Languages, and Linguistics<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Building 110<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Australian National University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Acton ACT 2601<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> Cynthia Allen
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, 19 March 2021 6:48 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> histling-l@mailman.yale.edu<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Deflexion query<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Greetings,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I’ve been trying to nail down the earliest use of ‘deflexion’/’deflection’ in reference to loss of inflection/inflectional categories. It is not a widely used term, but
has been prominently used in the early 2000s by Muriel Norde and then myself, for example. The earliest reference I have found is in Trask’s (2000)
<i>The dictionary of historical and comparative linguistics. </i>I would like to find out who first used this term, and would be grateful for any earlier references.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Dr Cynthia L. Allen FAHA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Emeritus Fellow, Australian National University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Baldessin Precinct Building Room W2.09<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">School of Literature, Languages, and Linguistics<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Building 110<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Australian National University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Acton ACT 2601<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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