Analytical language structure
An analytical linguistic structure is available for the language typology by August Wilhelm Schlegel in a language in which the grammatical function of the words / word groups in the sentence (for example subject , object , ...) is made clear by independent individual words. In this context one speaks of analytical languages. The analytical languages comprise the group of isolating languages , which also includes Chinese.
This is in contrast to the synthetic and polysynthetic languages , in which various pieces of information are incorporated into individual words by inflection . Wilhelm von Humboldt considers the difference between analytical and synthetic languages emphasized by Schlegel to be gradual and not very relevant.
The Chinese (all "dialects") is a very good example of an analytic language. As an illustration:
| wǒ | de | péngyou | men | dōu | yào | chī | jidàn. |
| I | possessive | friend | Plural | all | want | eat | Egg. |
As you can see, a single word here represents a single function. In German, for example, the plural information is integrated into the words through inflection. However, German also contains many analytical elements. In the phrase “in my houses”, for example, the information locative and possessive of the 1st person are expressed using separate words; compare this with the Finnish word taloissani with the same meaning : talo (“house”) + i (plural) + ssa ( inessive , in ) + ni ("my")
Southeast Asia is also home to many analytical languages such as Thai and Vietnamese .
Creole languages like Haitian are also good examples of analytic languages. Compared to above:
| Tout | zanmi | 'm | yo | vle | manje | ze. |
| All | Friends | my | Plural | want | eat | Egg. |
literature
- Wilhelm von Humboldt : About the differences in the structure of human language. In: Wilhelm von Humboldt: Writings on the philosophy of language . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1963, pp. 144–367, (original 1827–29).
- Edward Sapir : Types of linguistic structure. In Language: An introduction to the study of speech 1921 (Chapter 6).
- August Wilhelm Schlegel : Observations sur la langue et la littérature provençales. Librairie Greque - Latine - Allemande 1818. (Reprint: Gunter Narr (Hrsg.), Tübingen Contributions to Linguistics, Tübingen 1971)
