Methods of comparative study of languages

METHODS OF COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LANGUAGES

STUDENT: NASULLOYEVA NILUFAR

GROUP: 11-12CHI-19

 The Comparative Method

• In linguistics, the comparative method is a standardized way to compare different languages in order to determine their relationship to one another. The comparative method is based on the principle of regular sound change, which holds that any changes in the sounds of a language that happen over time occur in a regular way, with no exceptions. Languages are analyzed using the comparative method to determine whether they share a common mother language, a single language from which several others evolve. The comparative method can also suggest which branches of a language family developed earlier or later in time.

BRANCHES OF COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS

Comparative linguistics
phonetical
lexical
Morphological and syntactic

ASPECTS OF COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS

Comparative linguistics
Synchronic (linguistics)---languages are studied at a theoretic point in time: one describes a ‘state’ of language, disregarding whatever changes might be taking place.
Diachronic----languages are studied from point of view of their historical development – for example, the changes which have taken place between Old and Modern English could be described in phonological, grammatical and semantic terms.

PRACTICAL AIMS OF COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS

• 1) translation practice;
• 2) compiling dictionaries;
• 3) teaching foreign languages.

METHODS OF COMPARATIVE LINGUISTIC RESEARCH

• SPECIFIC METHODS:
• contrastive;
• historical and
• comparative.

• OTHER METHODS:
• 1) descriptive; 2) experimental; 3) statistic; 4) transformational 5) substitutional; 6) intermediate and ultimate constituents analysis; 7) inductive (comparing language data on the ground of certain criteria); 8) deductive (working out criteria for comparison) methodology.

 History of Comparative Linguistics

• The end of the 18th century up to the middle of the 19th century, which is called the beginning of comparative research;
• The end of the 19th century – the period of neogrammarian studies, when linguists started comparing living languages;
• the beginning of the 20th century up to the present – the period of structural and functional approaches to language.

W. von Humboldt’s Classification of Languages

• isolating (like Chinese);
• agglutinative (like Turkish);
• flexional (like Russian, Ukrainian);
• incorporating (languages of American Indians).