What is Comparative Linguistics?

Comparative linguistics, also known as synchronic linguistics, is the study of the similarities and differences between different languages. It compares the structure, vocabulary, and grammar of different languages to understand how they are related and how they have evolved over time. It is a branch of historical linguistics that aims to reconstruct the relationships between languages, known as the "genealogy" of languages, and their common ancestor, by comparing their similarities and differences. This can include looking at the similarities and differences in sound, word structure, sentence structure, grammar and vocabulary. It also involves comparing languages from different language families and reconstructing the proto-language from which the languages descended. By comparing languages, we can gain insight into the nature of human language, the ways in which languages change and diversify, and the relationships between different languages and language families.