Comparatism analyzes and establishes the genetic relationships that exist between languages.
Comparatism is a current of linguistics that emerged at the beginning of the 19th century that aims to analyze and establish the genetic relationships that exist between languages . It is a term derived from the French word comparatisme .
Comparison method
Comparatism can be understood as a method that allows languages to be compared and to recognize correspondences between their grammatical components . One of its promoters was the German linguist Franz Bopp ( 1791 – 1867 ), focusing on the similarities between European languages and Sanskrit .
Comparatism allowed us to understand that all the so-called Indo-European languages share a kinship . This means that they emerged from a single mother language and then transformed naturally. As time went by, the same comparative method was used to study other language families.
The search for primitive languages and the definition of family groups constitute the central interest of comparatism. These works explain why languages such as English and German , or Portuguese and Spanish , are similar in features of their grammar and vocabulary: this is because they evolved from a common primitive language, which is why they are part of from the same language family.
The notion of comparatism, on the other hand, is used in a broader sense to refer to the investigative method that allows the comparison of phenomena that are comparable. Thus one can speak of historical comparatism , artistic comparatism , etc.
Language family
The language family is a group of languages that have a common origin , that is, they are derived from a shared ancestral language. These languages, although they may have evolved and diverged over time, share structural, lexical and grammatical characteristics that indicate their relationship and kinship.
In a language family, languages are considered variants or branches of the original mother language . As language communities disperse and settle in different geographical regions, languages evolve and develop independently, leading to the formation of new languages within the same language family.
A widely known example of a language family is the Indo-European family , which encompasses a large number of languages spoken in Europe, Asia, and some parts of the Americas. Languages within this family include English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, among many others. Although these languages may differ considerably from each other in terms of vocabulary and grammar, they all share a common ancestor, called "Proto-Indo-European."
It is important to mention that subfamilies can be recognized in a linguistic family. In the Indo-European language family there are Slavic languages (such as Polish and Russian ) and Romance languages (such as Spanish and Italian ), to mention two examples.
The language family is a group of languages with a common ancestral language.
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is a field of study that focuses on the analysis and comparison of literary works from different traditions and cultures. This discipline examines the similarities and differences between literary works in terms of themes, styles, genres, narrative techniques, and historical and cultural contexts .
With respect to its objectives, it seeks to explore and understand how literary works relate to each other , how they influence each other , and how they reflect and respond to universal issues and cultural particularities. Through comparison, one can analyze how writers and their works have influenced each other and interacted over time and in different contexts.
This discipline uses comparatism as a methodology and approach to carry out the systematic study of the relationships between different literatures and cultures, and identify the connections and parallels that exist between them. Note that it is not only limited to the comparison of individual works, but can also encompass themes, genres, literary movements, and literary theories .