CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES
Languages can be grouped in two ways: typological classification - into types, based on features they share,
mainly synchronic; genealogical classification - into families, which assumes that they have developed from a
common ancestor; diachronic.
Typological Classification
Languages can be classified from the point of view of their: phonological system; morphology; syntax;
semantics/vocabulary
Phonological typology
The phonological system of a language is based on distinctive features of phonemes which go into oppositions
e.g. /p//b/ - voicing, /k//x/ - manner of articulation. The most striking opposition is that between vowels and
consonants. It appears in all languages.
The vowel systems of all languages are based on oppositions of at least 3 phonemes: i; u; a. They are basic,
primary vowels, and they appear in all languages.
The consonant system is based on the opposition between oral and nasal sounds. Within the oral consonants the degree of opening becomes the distinctive feature. There are 7 primary consonants: 3 stops - /p,t,k/; 2
nasals - /m,n/; 2 liquids /l/or /r/ and 1 fricative /s/
The 10 basic phonemes based on the primary oppositions constitute a basic phonological system in relation to
which other systems can be related. There is NO language in the world constructed of only the basic phonemes.
All languages have some secondary phonemes, but the number and kind of phonemes is very different and is
the basis of distinctions among languages.
First, we can consider the number of phonemes in a language. There are phonologically poor languages, which
have only 13 phonemes (3 secondary phonemes, e.g. /w, j, r/). Example: Aranta (Central Australia), Hawaiian
Secondly, it is the relation of the number of vowels and consonants compared to these figures in the basic
system. The relation in the basic (hypothetical) system is as follows: 30% of vowels to 70% consonants.
Some languages are more vocalic and others are more consonantal. French (extremely vocalic): (33 all
phonemes) 45,5% V - 54,5%C; Polish (consonantal) (35 all phonemes) 22,8%V - 77,2% C; Caucasian
languages (70 all phonemes) 4,3 V (3) - 95,7% C
Thirdly, the average length of morphemes i.e. the number of phonemes per morpheme. The more phonemes a
language has, the shorter the morphemes on average; the fewer phonemes a language has, the longer
morphemes have to become.
The extreme language (the poorest and the riches) are seen as recessive - on the way to extinction.
Morphological Typology
Isolating - words are usually one syllable long and invariable in form, with neither affixation nor inflection.
Meaning is expressed through word order, with developed prosodic features in grammatical and lexical
function (e.g. Vietnamese, Chinese).
Agglutinative - words tend to be composed of several syllables and consist of a stem with a number of affixes
in a linear sequence of morphemes, which are regular and unchanging. Each morpheme has a separate function
and meaning.
Inflective (fusional) - words consist of a stem with a number of affixes. Unlike in agglutinative languages,
these affixes may change depending on what base they are added to, e.g. depending on the gender of the noun.
Alternating - with the strongest connectiveness and the highest cumulation of function, all in one word:
Typology based on syntactic characteristics
The division on the basis of the relative position of grammatical and lexical morphemes;
Post-positional - lexical + grammatical (Polish, English, e.g. plural ending)
Pre-positional - grammatical + lexical (Bantu
m + tu (sing + man), ban + tu (pl. + man)
Semantic typology
Semantic systems of languages are compared with respect to three types of words: naming words (lexical)
(nouns, verbs, adjectives...); pronouns; numerals.
The system of lexical words has hierarchies of specificity. Words are organised depending on how specific
they are, how much information they deliver. Two types of languages were distinguished: expansive type - with
an increasing number of abstract names, with very complex hierarchies of abstractness and the type with more
concrete names (recessive)
Numerals The simplest system of numerals is based on 2 numerals - 1 and 2 (based on counting hands, legs).
The systems based on 5 (fingers of one hand), extended to the systems based on 10 and 20 (two hands and two
feet).
Genealogical classification
While typological classification of languages compares existing languages along certain criteria (phonological
system, morphology, syntax), genealogical classification assumes that similarities displayed by different
languages result from the fact that they are related, that is they descend from one common ancestor.
Cognates (words which are historically derived from the same root)
English
new
brother
five
Sanskrit
návas
bhrtār
páñca
Latin
novus
frāter
quīnque
Welsh
newydd
brawd
pump
Lithuanian
naũjas
brólis
penkì
Polish
nowy
brat
pięć
night
naktam
noctis
nos
naktis
noc
(Europe and parts of Asia)
 The Indo-European Family
Anatolian Its best known language was Hittite†, with earliest known texts from around 1700BC.
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan languages: Vedic Sanskrit† (earliest texts from 1000BC) modern Hindi, Bengali, Sinhalese,
Romany,
Iranian: Avestan†, Old Persian†, Modern Persian, Afghan, Kurdish
Greek - Earliest texts from 14001200BC
Italic: Latin and its descendants: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Provançal
Germanic (earliest texts from the 4th c. AD)
East Germanic
Gothic†, Vandalic†, Burgundian
North Germanic
Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic
West Germanic
German, Yiddish, Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans, Frisian, English
Armenian (oldest texts are from the 5th c. AD)
Tocharian† (extinct, spoken in Chinese Turkestan in the first millennium AD, there are texts from the 7 th
c. AD)
Celtic : Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Manx, Gaelic
1. Albanian (earliest known texts are from the 15th c)
2. Balto-Slavic
Baltic (earliest known texts - 14th c), Old Prussian, Lettish (Latvain), Lithuanian
Slavic (earliest known texts - 9th c)
Eastern
Byelorussian, Russian, Ukrainian
Western
Czech, Slovak, Polish
Southern
Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene
(Asia and Eurasia)
 The Caucasian Family e.g. Georgian, Chechenian
 The Basque-Iberian family Basque, Iberian
 The Finno-Ugric family e.g. Finnish, Lapp, Estonian, Hungarian, and some languages of northern Asia
 The Turkic family e.g. Turkish, Uzbek, Azerbaijani, Tatar, Kirgiz
 The Altaic family e.g. Mongolian, Manchu-Tungus group of languages
 The Paleo-Siberian Languages of Siberia, (grouped geographically, little is known about them) e.g.
Chukchi, Kamchatkan
 The Japanese-Korean family Japanese, Korean
 The Sino-Tibetan family The nine dialects of Chinese and languages of Tibet
 The Dravidian family (south of India) e.g. Tamil
 The Malayo-Polynesian family Groups based on geographical distribution: Indonesian, Melanesian,
Micronesian, Polynesian.
(Africa)
 The Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic) family
branches: Egyptian (Ancient Egyptian† and Coptic†), Berber, Cushitic, Chad, Semitic (East
Akkadian†, West - Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician)
 The Chari-Nile (Nilo-Saharn) family
 The Niger-Congo family Bantu languages - e.g. Swahili, Burundi, Tutsi, Zulu
 The Khoisan family Hottentot and Bushman groups of languages
(North America)
 Eskimo-Aleut
 Na-Déné e.g. Navaho, Apache
 Algonkin-Wakashan e.g. Algonkin, Cheyenne, Delaware
 Hokan-Siouan e.g. Iroquois languages as Cherokee, Huron, Mohawk, other: Dakota, Iowa, Omaha
 Penutian e.g. Mayan
 Aztek-Tanoan e.g. Azteca†, Comanche,
(Central and South America)
More than 350 languages said to be spoken there
Examples: Aymara and Quechua spoken in Peru and neighbouring countries
(Australia and Papua) the term Papua -covers more than 700 languages
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