ODLT--The Online Dictionary of Language Terminology



analytic language
Definition - A language that uses word order to indicate syntax
Note: As opposed to synthetic languages, which use inflection.

Example -
SVO languages such as English and Chinese are analytic languages; Latin, German, and Russian are synthetic.

Oxford English Dictionary -
The term's first citation is from 1873:
"The Swedish and Danish … have become more analytical than Old Norse."
(Farrar Fam. of Speech ii. 74)



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