Typology

[David Gil]

Many good points have been made in this discussion so far.  I would just 
like to add that, as I see it, an adequate understanding of how terms 
such as "typology" and its derivatives ("typological", "typologist", 
etc.) are used cannot, alas, be based entirely on substantive criteria, 
but must also take into account sociological factors.  Typology defines 
a community of practitioners who are recognizable not only by the 
substance of their research, but also by the accompanying rhetoric, one 
of whose main characteristics is its focus on linguistic diversity and 
cross-linguistic variation.  I suspect one can find practitioners whose 
work satisfies the substantive criteria for being typological yet whom 
we do not consider to be typologists, and conversely people whom we 
consider to be typologists yet whose work does not generally meet the 
same criteria.

-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119
Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
Webpage:  http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/