Isolating language

An insulating linguistic structure in language typology by Wilhelm von Humboldt and August Wilhelm Schlegel, a linguistic structure, in which the grammatical function of a term is made clear within a sentence by its position, whereby the set position to the central element.

Said linguistic structure with an insulating also be referred to as an insulating languages ​​( amorphous languages). ( Be sure to distinguish this concept from the isolated languages ​​, a term for languages ​​for which no relative is known. )

In contrast to the isolating languages ​​are synthetic ( which also include the German part ) and polysynthetic languages ​​in which different information can be single words incorporated by flexion.

The (modern ) Chinese language is a frequently cited example of insulating linguistic structure. The English developed more and more into an insulating language ( here together with the Chinese compared with the Germans, which counts as inflectional language to a subset of the synthetic languages):

Note the complete change of meaning when one exchanges in Chinese and English, the two nouns in their set position, and the only slight shift in meaning in German:

In Chinese and English, the position in the sentence appears to impose, which is noun subject and which object while it is in German only to a shift of emphasis, since the subject - object relationship is illustrated by the flexion of the article and the endings. Only in the pronouns are still remnants of the old English Inflection have preserved.

Due to the almost complete absence of inflectional forms are just the creoles good examples of insulating languages.