Classification of Languages: Typological Classification

byAmrita Ganeriwalla

All the languages of the world can be grouped together based on certain qualities and similarities. This helps linguists and other scientists study the languages themselves as well as the cultures to which the languages belong. In this three-part series, AMRITA GANERIWALLA, a class 12 student of Bombay International School, Mumbai, throws light on the three basic ways to classify all the languages in the world. In the final part of the series, we look at typological classification.

Classification of Languages: Typological Classification

In typological classification, languages are brought together based on similarities in grammatical structure. There are several bases for this, such as sounds, word order, types of morphology (how words are formed) and structural characteristics. ISOLATING AND SYNTHETIC LANGUAGES This is among the