[Lingtyp] language typology, linguistic typology, comparative linguistics

[Sebastian Nordhoff]

On 02/28/2018 08:00 AM, Dan I. SLOBIN wrote:
> The first issue of *Linguistic Typology* (1997: 1(1)) provides a definition
> which I still find sufficient and satisfying:
> 
> *Linguistic Typology **publishes original research on the diversity of
> languages [...]

Since Martin's Twitter profile states that he is a "diversity linguist",
I was wondering what the semantic relation between "Linguistic Typology"
and "Diversity Linguistics" is or would be. Are there areas which are
part of one but not the other? Is one a subset of the other?

Arguably, grammatical descriptions do not fall within the scope of LT
proper (they cover only one language), but still, they seem to be
associated very closely with typological research questions.

>From my interactions with the ALT folks, I would say that these are all
people who value diversity, think that diversity is interesting,
important, and should be preserved. This says nothing about the
scientific enterprise of "typology", but some "anthropology of science"
might still represent an interesting aspect here: who are the
practicioners, what are their values, how do they interact with each
other? One thing I find particularly funny about typological conferences
is that everybody wears T-shirts, flipflops (or occasionally no shoes at
all), and that that is completely fine. Compare this for instance with
Romance studies in Germany, where the dress code is completely different.

The anthropological "community of practice" will surely not provide an
intensional definition of What We Do; still, this might actually be
quite an important point of distinguishing typology from other subfields
of linguistics.

Best wishes
Sebastian