 Since humans are capable of producing a variety of speech sounds, several questions about the organization of sound systems across languages arise. The answers to these questions require a systematic survey and a comparison of a representative sample of languages. In doing this, we will set up some central parameters for the phonological classification of languages. In fact, there are several possibilities of classifying languages phonologically. For example, one could use segmental aspects such as the presence or absence of certain segments or groups of segments, or we could take suprasegmental aspects such as rhythm or tonal patterns. We will look at both in this e-lecture, segmental and suprasegmental factors of classifying languages. Let us start with the treatment of segmental aspects. Languages vary considerably with regard to their sound inventories. That is, the number and type of speech sounds they use, some have more fricatives than others, some seem to prefer alveolar consonants to consonants that are produced in the back of the mouth, and again others only have few vowels. Or take sound patterns. The sound systems of the languages of the world seem to organize themselves into patterns, and we will look at such patterns later on. Let us start with some segmental properties, especially with those that are more representative than others, since they allow us to classify the languages in a more systematic way. For example, all languages have vowels, and all languages also have unrounded front vowels very similar to vowels such as e or air. But not all languages have rounded front vowels. If we confine ourselves to the Indo-European languages, for example, we will find that French is the only Romance language with rounded front vowels such as u as in heureux, and that some German languages, Germanic languages, sorry, most significantly German, also have rounded front vowels u as in Lüge or ö as in Mögen. English by contrast has none of these rounded front vowels. Another systematic effect of this kind is referred to as nasalization. That is, does a language use nasalized vowels where the nose is used as a second resonance chamber? So here is the second resonance chamber. Well, French, as you know, uses nasalization as in on. And of the Indo-European languages, we know that apart from French, Polish is a language which uses nasalized vowels and Portuguese. But that's it. Further, vocalic features that can be used for the classification of the languages of the world are, for example, devoiced vowels such as Japanese devoiced vowels or the presence or absence of particular diphthongs. However, if we base our judgments on a representative sample of languages, a number of remarkable aspects emerge. These can be defined statistically. So let's look at segmental statistics first. Among others, comparative phonologists are interested in the frequency of occurrence of certain segments in languages. Well, it is known that, for example, fricatives and plosives occur more frequently than approximants. Or alveolar consonants are used more often than vela consonants. So these are segmental observations that we can make across the languages of the world. Or we can look at sound dependencies. Now these statements deal with questions of co-occurrences. For example, if a language has alveolar consonants, then it is likely to have nasal consonants. Or let's look at vowels. If a language has a certain front vowel, let's say a high front vowel, then the same language is likely to have a high back vowel. Beyond these sound dependencies and segmental statistics, we can make aerial statements. Aerial studies draw attention, among others, to the distribution of certain segment types in particular languages and regions. Let us take Africa as an example. For example, the Afro-Asiatic languages, which are primarily spoken in the north of the African continent, for example, Arabic, these languages are well known for the occurrence of pharyngeal consonants. Or in the south of Africa, we find the Koizan languages. And in the Koizan languages, we find as a special feature, click consonants, that is, consonants produced with a velaric airstream. Beyond aerial statements, we can look at inventories across languages. Now here we look at the number and the distribution of segments in particular languages. Let us take English as an example. Now in British English, we know that there are 12 monophones, that there are 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants. And when I say British English, I specifically refer to the standard phonological dialect received pronunciation. Now if we compare that with American English, and here I am referring to the American English, to the North American English type, spoken around the Great Lakes, then we only have 13 monophones, 3 diphthongs due to the high degree of roticity, and the same set of 24 consonants. Now whereas English can be found in the middle, there are extremes. In the Polynesian languages, for example, you only find very small sound inventories, whereas the Koizan languages, which we have just seen on the African continent, have a total of well beyond 100 sound segments in their systems. An interesting question in comparative phonology concerns the distribution of vowels on the cardinal vowel chart. Most languages have their vowels evenly and widely distributed over the chart, exhibiting a triangular vowel pattern. Here are some examples. Well the simplest type of language is a language with three vowels only, where we have a high front vowel and a high back vowel, and a low central vowel. Now such a triangular pattern can be found in Greenlandic. Now if we extend this pattern to Spanish with a mid front vowel and a mid back vowel, we see that again we have a congruent pattern where each front vowel has a corresponding back vowel counterpart. Romanian is an example of a language with seven vowels. Now here we have a central vowel which is high and a central vowel which is mid in terms of the high low parameter. Now these congruent patterns may be responsible for the fact that vowel systems seem to develop geometrical patterns even if something goes wrong. Each front vowel has a corresponding back vowel and vice versa. And if the pattern is not congruent, then sound changes are likely. Now here is an example from German. In German we have a mid low back vowel or, this one here, as in got. And we have a corresponding mid low front vowel as in bet. There is no mid low long back vowel, there is no or in German. However, we have a long air in German as in words such as kaiser. Now those of you who speak German may immediately want to object and they say, well I don't say kaiser, I say kaiser instead. And in fact this is exactly what is happening. Let's get rid of this. There is a sound change going on which erases or which merges this mid low front vowel with a mid high front vowel. So words such as kaiser become kaiser leading to new homophones such as zähle, zehle, which is now the same thing. Zehle, the soul, zehle, the rooms. Let's now turn our attention to suprasegmental parameters. Now in fact there are two central suprasegmental parameters that allow us to classify the languages of the world phonologically namely tonal phenomena and the rhythmic organization of a language. Let's start with tonal aspects. Now pitch variations that affect the meaning of a word are called tones. A language that uses this technique is referred to as a tone language. The simplest kind of language uses two tones. Now let us illustrate on the basis of the languages of the world. Now a language with two tones is referred to as a registered tone language and we find such languages on the African continent. Well known examples of this type are the Bantu languages. So the two tones are high and low. More complex tonal systems use contour tones. And they are primarily around in Southeast Asia. Here we find many contour tone languages. The most prominent of them is Mandarin Chinese. Let's listen to an example. I will present you a speaker who counts from 1 to 10 in Mandarin Chinese taken from the Virtual Language 6 Campus Language Index. Here we are. 1. This is a level tone. 2. A fall. 3. A level. 4. A fall. 5. This is a fall rise, a contour tone. 6. A fall. 7. A level tone. 8. Level again. 9. And here we have a fall rise again and finally. 10. A rise. So we have several contour tones and several level tones. Let's finally discuss the aspect of rhythm. According to the rhythmic organization of speech, languages can be subdivided into two types. Stress timed and syllable timed. A language is referred to as stress timed when it shows, at a given rate of speaking, a rhythmic patterning perceived as based on intervals between stress syllables. That is, the tone units with one nucleus per tone unit sound roughly equal in length. English is a typical example. Now in this sentence, which are represented phonologically, we have two tone units. Many intelligent students, tone unit one, go to Marburg, tone unit two, with one nuclei per tone unit, stew and ma. And both tone units are roughly equal in length. Now this can be contrasted with Italian, which is defined as a syllable timed language, and it shows a tendency for every syllable to be heard as lasting approximately the same amount of time, at a given rate of speaking, certainly. Now here it is, and that's a translation of the English sentence, multi studenti intelligenti vanno a Marburg. Don't say multi studenti intelligenti vanno a Marburg. This is not what we're saying. We really make each syllable equal in length. So Italian is syllable timed, English is stress timed. Let's summarize. We have defined several criteria for the phonological classification of languages. The first concerned the sound inventories themselves, that is a true segmental parameters. We looked at the occurrence of particular consonants and vowels in the languages of the world. Beyond these segmental parameters, such as the occurrence of particular segments in a language, we can define patterns. For example, relationships between front and back vowels, between certain types of consonants and so on. And finally, we have suprasegmental parameters such as tone or rhythm, which allow us to define languages as tonal versus non-tonal, or stress timed versus syllable timed. And of course you know if you look at English, well, English is of course a non-tonal language, and it is stress timed.