The classification of languages

Introduction to Linguistics 2
 Defining language

 Dialect and language

 Defining criteria
 Iftwo speeches are mutually intelligible, they
are dialects.
 Fuzzy boundaries

 Claimed to be one language, but there

are a variety of mutually unintelligible
‘dialects’.
 Chinese
 Taiwanese, Cantonese, Mandarin/ Putonhua,
Wu…
 Claimed to be two independent
languages, but they are actually
mutually intelligible.
 Serbian and Croatian
 Approaches to language
classification
 Genetic classification
 Linguistic typology
Genetic Classification
 Genetic classification

 Languages with related historical

decent are said to be genetically
related.
 ‘language families’
Language families
 Case Study:
The Indo-European language family
Linguistic Typology
 Linguistic typology

 Languages are grouped together

according to the similarities of their
linguistic features.
 Linguistic Universals

 The common linguistic features that are

found in all or most languages.
How to describe linguistic universals

 Absolute universals vs. universal

tendencies
 Implicational universals
 Markedness theory
 Absolute universals vs.
universal tendencies
 Absolute universals
 The linguistic features that occur in ALL
languages
 Universal tendencies
 The linguistic features that occur in MOST
languages
 Implicational universals

 The presence of one linguistic feature

in one language must indicate the
occurrence of another.
 If A is found in language L, B must be
also present in language L.
 The implication is one-way.
 Example:
 If one language has fricative phonemes, it
will also have stop phonemes
 Implicational universals:
Example
 The implication is one-way.
 Example:
 If one language has fricative phonemes
(/s/, /z/), it will also have stop phonemes
(/p/, /t/).
 But not vice versa.
 Markedness theory

 The most common/default features are

unmarked.
 The less common features are marked.
 Markedness theory:
example
 Gender in nouns
 Which is marked? Masculine or feminine?
 Prince-princess; actor-actress
 Doctor-female doctor; nurse-male nurse

 萬綠叢中一點紅
 Which is marked?
 Typological classification by

 Phonology
 Morphology
 Syntax
 Typology: phonology

 Vowel systems
 Consonant systems
 Suprasegmental systems
 Syllable structure
 Typology: phonology: vowel

 Universals
 The most common vowel system
5 vowels /a/-/i/-/u/-/e/-/o/
 The most common phonemes
 /a/-/i/-/u/

 Front vowel phonemes are generally

unrounded.
 Low vowels are generally unrounded.
Typology: phonology: Consonant

 Universals
 All languages have stops
 /p, t, k/
 The most common fricative phoneme is /s/
 Most of languages have at least one nasal.
 Implicational universals
 Fricatives -> stops
 Voiced obstruents -> voiceless obstruents
 Affricates -> stops and fricatives
Typology: phonology: suprasemental

 Types
 Tone languages
 Languages that use pitch to make semantic
distinctions of words
 Mandarin Chinese

 Stress languages
 Fixed stress
 Free stress

 Syllable structure
 CV, V
 Typology: morphology

 The isolating type

 The polysynthetic type
 The synthetic type
 The agglutinating type
 The fusional type
 Typology: morphology:
The isolating/analytic type
 One word represents one single
morpheme.
 No affixes
 Mandarin Chinese
 Typology: morphology:
The polysynthetic type
 One single word with a long string of
roots and affixes
 The semantic equivalent of one
sentence in other languages.
 Qasu-iir-sar-vig-ssar-si-ngit-luunar-nar-puq
‘some one did not find a completely
suitable resting place.’ (Inuktitut)
 Typology: morphology:
The agglutinating type
 An agglutinating words
 Contains several morphemes
 The root and affixes in the words can be
semantically identified.
Swahili
Tu –ta –wa -on- esha
we-fut.-them-see-cause
'we will show them'
 An aggluinating example:
Antidisestablishmentarianism
 establish (9)
 to set up, put in place, or institute (originally from the Latin stare,
to stand)
 dis-establish (12)
 ending the established status of a body, in particular a church,
given such status by law, such as the Church of England
 disestablish-ment (16)
 the separation of church and state (specifically in this context it is
the political movement of the 1860s in Britain)
 anti-disestablishment (20)
 opposition to disestablishment
 antidisestablishment-arian (25)
 an advocate of opposition to disestablishment
 Antidisestablishmentarian-ism (28)
 the movement or ideology that opposes disestablishment
 Typology: morphology:
The fusional/inflectional type
 A fusional/inflectional word contains several
morphemes which indicate grammatical
categories.
 Ein kleiner Hamster "a little hamster" (nominative
case)
 Der kleine Hamster "the little hamster"
(nominative case)
 Ich sah den kleinen Hamster "I saw the little
hamster" (accusative case)
 Mit kleinem Hamster "with little hamster" (dative
case).
 Typology: syntax

 Word order universals

 SVO
 SOV
 VSO
 Word order: SVO

 John loves Mary.

 word order: SOV

 私 は 箱 を 開けます。
 watashi-wa-hako-o-akemasu.
I box open
 ‘I open the box.’
 word order: OSV
Sentence ‫قرأ المدرس الكتاب‬

Words ‫الكتاب‬ ‫المدرس‬ ‫قرأ‬

al-kitāba al-mudarrisu Qara'a

Read. the teacher the book

Parts Object Subject Verb

Translation The teacher read the book.