Isolating languages have a simple grammatical structure and rely on word order to convey meaning. They typically have no inflectional morphology, meaning that words do not change their form to indicate grammatical relationships.

Inflectional languages have a complex grammatical structure and rely on inflectional morphology to convey meaning. Words change their form to indicate grammatical relationships, such as tense, aspect, mood, number, and case.

Agglutinative languages have a complex grammatical structure and rely on agglutination to convey meaning. Words are formed by adding prefixes and suffixes to a root word, and each affix has a specific meaning.

Polysynthetic languages have a complex grammatical structure and rely on compounding to convey meaning. Words are formed by combining multiple morphemes into a single word, and each morpheme has a specific meaning.

Analytic languages have a simple grammatical structure and rely on word order to convey meaning. They typically have a relatively free word order, and the meaning of a sentence is determined by the context in which it is used.

Tonal languages have a complex phonological system in which the pitch of the voice is used to distinguish between different words or grammatical forms. This means that the same word can have different meanings depending on the tone in which it is pronounced.

Pitch-accent languages have a phonological system in which the pitch of the voice is used to emphasize certain syllables in a word. This can be used to distinguish between different words or grammatical forms, or to convey different emotions or attitudes.

Intonational languages have a phonological system in which the pitch of the voice is used to convey different emotions or attitudes. This can be used to distinguish between different types of sentences, such as questions, statements, or commands.

Click languages have a unique phonological system in which the tongue is used to make a clicking sound against the roof of the mouth. This type of sound is not found in any other language family.

Ejective languages have a unique phonological system in which the air is forced out of the lungs with a sudden burst, creating a popping sound. This type of sound is not found in many languages.

Implosive languages have a unique phonological system in which the air is drawn into the lungs with a sudden burst, creating a sucking sound. This type of sound is not found in many languages.

Retroflex languages have a unique phonological system in which the tongue is curled back towards the roof of the mouth to produce retroflex consonants. This type of sound is not found in many languages.

Palatal languages have a unique phonological system in which the tongue is raised towards the hard palate to produce palatal consonants. This type of sound is not found in many languages.

Velar languages have a unique phonological system in which the tongue is raised towards the velum to produce velar consonants. This type of sound is found in many languages.

Uvular languages have a unique phonological system in which the tongue is raised towards the uvula to produce uvular consonants. This type of sound is not found in many languages.