Typological Classification of Languages

Languages are described by their types rather than by their origins and relationships
The type under which languages are classified follows morphological classification
Definition

Isolating
Agglutinating/agglutinative
Inflecting/flectional/fusional
Polysynthetic/incorporating
Language Types

One-to-one correspondence between words and morphemes
One word formations
Free morphemes are the only forms used
The “word” (free morpheme) can occur by itself and is not dependent on any other morphemes.
Isolating languages

It is an unalterable unit whose function in the sentence is not usually marked by some grammatical device (affix, auxiliary) but only by position.
Since the boundaries of syllables and morphemes coincide, these languages are sometimes referred to as monosyllabic.
Isolating languages

Examples: Chinese, Vietnamese, and many languages of South East Asia
Ex (Chinese):我看他 wo kan ta
“I see him”; “I am seeing him”
他看我朋友 Ta kan wo peng you
“He sees my friend”
Isolating Languages

Flexional/Fusional/Inflecting
Languages
Grammatical devices like affixes or internal changes in words to show grammatical relationships
Free and bound morphemes are united
Ex. Walk, walk-s, walk-ing, walk-ed
Internal change: mouse-mice
goose-geese

Flexional/Fusional/Inflecting
Languages (2)
Several units of meaning are contained within a single world
Latin, ib “I shall go” (base: i “go”; -b(i)- is the future tense morpheme; -- ‘is the first person singular
Sanskrit vadmi (vad- the base ‘speak’; (a)mi) ‘first person singular’

Agglutinating/Agglutinative
Languages
A type of flexional language with the exception that the morphemes attached have a separate existence (= free morpheme)
Implication: the boundaries between the morphemes are always clear because their shape remains the same

Agglutinating/Agglutinative
Languages: Example
Turkish adam ‘man’
nominative: adam (sg) adam-lar (pl)
accusative: adam-i (sg) adam-lar-i (pl)
genitive: adam-in adam-lar-in (pl)
dative: adam-a adam-lar-a
locative adam-da adam-lar-da
ablative adam-dan adam-lar-dan

Agglutinative vs Flexional
Hungarian
Nom. su “water”
Gen. su-num
Acc. su-yu
Abl. su-dan
Latin
aqua
aquæ
aquam
aqu

Japanese tabesaserareru
tabe “eat” (the base)
sase “the causative element (i.e. to cause someone to do something)
rare “the passive form”
ru “the infinitive”

Grammatical changes are indicated by prefixes:
-toto (indicating ‘child’: non-grammatical)
m-toto (‘child’ singular: grammatical word)
wa-toto (“children”)
m-tu (“man-sg.”)
wa-tu (“men”)
Swahili

Verbs: The time of the action expressed by the verb is marked by a “tense prefix”:
na- (present)
li- (past)
ta- (future
Swahili (2)

Verb base soma ‘read’
watoto wanasoma
watoto walisoma
ninasoma (ni- is first person)
unasoma (u- is you-sg.)
ulisoma
utasoma
Swahili (3)

Polysynthetic/Incorporating
Languages
These languages make use of affixation and often incorporate what English would represent with nouns and adverbs.
The word forms are often very long and morphologically complex
Languages: Inuktitut (Baffin Island Eskimo), Oneida)

Polysynthetic/Incorporating
Languages (2)
g-nagla-sl-i-zak-s
g “I” (first person)
nagla (conveys idea of) “living”
sl (causes nagla to be noun-like; the combination conveys the idea of “village”)
i verbal prefix, indicates that zak is to carry a verbal idea
zak ‘look for’
s ‘continued action

Polysynthetic/Incorporating
Languages (3)
ngirruunthingapukani
I past for some time eat repeatedly

Polysynthetic/Incorporating
Languages (4)
Tavva- -guuq ikpiarju(q) -ku(t)
Then (suddenly) they say work-bag by
-Luni- tigualaka -mi -uk takanu-
while she swept up (loc) by (poss) that one (in one motion) there below
-nga ikijaq- tuq- Luni quja(q)r- mun her way out she kayak towards
“Then (suddenly) she swept up (poss) work-bag that one there below her she way out towards kayak”

None of these four types are mutually exclusive.
In English, there is a movement towards a more isolating type of structure.
Yet, all elements appear in English.
Non-exclusivity