1. Morphological Types of Languages

Morphological classification is based on similar and different structures of languages independently of their genealogy. According to it all languages can be divided into 4 groups: isolative (root) languages; agglutinative languages; incorporating languages; flexional languages.

Isolative (root) languages have no affixes and express their grammatical meanings by means of adjoining of one word to another with the help of functional words. There is no difference between root and word in these languages. The classical examples of such type are ancient Chinese and Vietnamese languages. Here also belong Tibetian, Malay and Burmese languages.

Agglutinative are languages in which grammatical meanings are expressed by particular affixes-labels. Such affixes show time, person, number, mood, case etc. Each affix has only one meaning. All Turkish and Finno-Ugrian (угро-фінські) languages belong to this group, as well as Eskimo, Georgian, Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian.

Incorporating (polysynthetic) are languages in which different parts of utterance are united in complexes by means of functional words, so, sentences look like compound words. Here belong Chuckchee and many Indian languages of North America.

Flexional are languages in which grammatical meaning is expressed by flexions. Here belong the Indo-European and Semitic-Hamitic (семіто-хамітські) languages. In these languages suffixes and endings have many meanings. Flexional languages are subdivided into synthetic and analytic. Synthetic are languages in which grammatical meaning is expressed by means of affixes, gradation, suppletivism Here belong Eastern Slavonic languages, Polish, Czech, Lithuanian, German, Sanskrit, ancient Greek, Latin, Gothic etc.

Analytic are languages in which lexical meaning is expressed by notional words and grammatical meaning – by functional words, word order, and intonation. This group comprises all Romanic languages, English, Dutch, Tadzhik, Hindu, Bulgarian, and Macedonian.

2. Sign and Meaning. Charles Pierce’ Theory of Signs.

Charles K. Ogden and Ivor A. Richards developed a theory of sign in their common work The Meaning of Meaning emphasizing the relation bеtween sign expression and mental image of the object. It is known as Ogden-Richards’ semiotic triangle.

Each corner of the triangle corresponds to a component that is integrally involved in the process of meaning. Reference – indicates the realm of memory where recollections of past experience and contexts occur. Referent – is the object that is perceived and that creates the impression stored in the memory. Sign / symbol – is a word that nominates the referent and corresponds to its mental image in a form of a reference.

Thus, a sign / symbol symbolizes a thought, and a thought refers to a referent (object). In this way a referent and a unit of language (word) are linked (via a reference) in indirect manner.

Ch. Pierce developed a theory of signs on the basis of formal logic. He divided all signs into 3 types:

• signs-icons which are formed on the basis of physical similarity (likeness) with objects, e.g.: pictures, photos, drawings, schemes, maps, models, onomatopoeic / sound-imitative words in language, e.g.: cuckoo, buzz, bang, din-dong; motivated derivatives and compounds in which the inner form is obvious, e.g.: driver, window, snowdrop, waterfall.

• signs-indices are characterized by proximity of signs and objects, e.g.: smoke as a sign of fire, foot-mark on the sand as a sign of a man. To this group also belong termometers, barameters, wings (флюгери), gestures, pointers (дороговкази), hands (стрілки годинника), personal and demonstrative pronouns, deictic words;

signs-symbols have no direct relations between signs and objects; their connection depends on a rule as in most lexical units in language. They need additional interpretation, e.g. words of human and artificial languages which are characterized by conventional relations between sounds and objects they denote.