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General Problems of Classification of African Languages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig
Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig*
Affiliation:
University of Cologne
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Extract

On principle, there are no language classifications which are right or wrong, but only classifications which are more or less useful or useless. This statement at the beginning of my paper is intended to indicate the teleological perspective in which I want to view the more general problems involved in the classification of African languages. I shall discuss these within a framework which I derive from the four main components of any language classification, namely:

  1. 1. the aims and objectives of language classification,

  2. 2. the basic units to be classified,

  3. 3. the criteria of classification,

  4. 4. the models of language classification.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 35 , Issue 137 , March 1987 , pp. 113 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

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