Linguistic typology has come a way since Wilhelm von Humboldt's day in the early 19th century. Linguists (not many of whom call themselves philologists) identify more than three basic types of morphological typology these days, but, I think the answer Mr Paxoman was going for is synthetic language. It's kind of a silly interviewing technique. Is hew a comedian or a reporter or both?

Ceci n'est pas un seing.