Summary 1 Flashcards
What are the two types of classification of languages?
Genetic and by types (typological)
What is genetic classification + example?
Historical classification based on common ancestry
example: latin- parent language, french- daughter language, french and romanian- sister languages
what is the most common type of language classification?
genetic!
what are the problems with genetic classification?
The daughter languages do not split off from the parent language so neatly
Heavy borrowing from other (non-related) languages may obscure the relationship.
It assumes a clear distinction between a language and a dialect.
what is a recent phenomenon?
standardized language- dialects are the norm!
what is an example of a standardized force?
writing
what are The earliest attempts at classifying languages in the nineteenth century?
Languages by types (typological)
what kinds of typological classification are there?
isolating, inflecting, aggultinating
what does isolating mean?
No endings, mostly monosyllabic, unbound morphemes. Words have the same form regardless of their grammatical use. Grammar = word order.
what does Inflecting (flectional) mean?
Words have inflectional endings each of which may have several grammatical meanings at once. The inflections can show great variation.
what does Aggultinating mean?
Words have one stem and several affixes (bound morphemes) and are built up by adding units. Each unit has its own grammatical meaning. The affixes are very regular
example languages of isolating types?
Example languages: Chinese, Vietnamese, Samoan, other???
example languages of inflecting types?
Example languages: Latin, Greek, Arabic, other???
example languages of aggultinating types?
Example languages: Turkish, Finnish, Japanese and Swahili
what’s a problem with the type classification?
A lot of languages are combinations of two or more types:
exampled of A lot of languages are combinations of two or more types:
polysynthetic or incorporating, Example languages: Inuit, Mohawk, Australian aboriginal
english examples of all types of typological classification?
Isolating: The boy will ask the girl.
Inflecting: The biggest boys had been asking.
base form: big boy have be ask
Agglutinating: anti-dis-establish-ment-arian-ism
analytic vs. synthetic?
- Analytic: fewer bound morphemes, more reliance on word order:
English - Synthetic: more bound morphemes, freer word order: Latin
true of false: Languages are classified along a scale indicating the degree of these characteristics. They may be more or less analytic or synthetic.
TRUE
is English more analytic or synthetic?
analytic!
is French more analytic or synthetic?
middle
is latin more analytic or synthetic?
synthetic!
what are Other methods of typological classification:
- Typology: Order of subject, verb, and object
* Head-first/last
difference between head-first and head-last?
- Head-first: The head of the phrase is first and the modifiers follow:
the table with the broken leg that I want to throw away - Head-last: The head is last in the phrase and the modifiers precede: the big round wooden table
