| What sort of language(s) do you speak? |
| What is English? |
| None of these definitions will apply to any language perfectly. They are probably better described as tendencies rather than characteristics. | |
| AGGLUTINATING OR AGGLUTINATIVE LANGUAGES |
These languages add suffixes and prefixes (as well as infixes) to the stem of a word to add to its meaning or to show grammatical function. Examples are Turkish and German. |
| ISOLATING, ANALYTIC OR ROOT LANGUAGES |
These languages tend not to change the form of words so grammatical functions are shown by word order and the use of function words to denote tense and aspect, for example. Examples are Chinese, Vietnamese. |
| INFLECTING, SYNTHETIC OR FUSIONAL LANGUAGES |
These languages change endings and sometimes the internal structure of words to show grammatical relationships - tense, aspect, case and so on. Examples are Spanish and French. |
| In addition, languages can also be divided into the following two categories: | |
| STRESS-TIMED LANGUAGES |
In these languages, the amount of time taken to say the same number of syllables varies. Examples are: Arabic, Dutch, English, Farsi, German, Russian, Scandinavian languages. |
| SYLLABLE-TIMED LANGUAGES |
In these languages, it takes about the same amount of time to say each syllable. Examples are: Chinese languages, French, Spanish, Turkish and many West African Languages. |