[Lingtyp] language typology, linguistic typology, comparative linguistics

[Balthasar Bickel]

Dear all

> On 27 Feb 2018, at 22:10, Martin Haspelmath <haspelmath at shh.mpg.de> wrote:
> 
> (So far, at least one department of comparative linguistics in the relevant sense exists: at the University of Zurich, http://www.comparativelinguistics.uzh.ch/en.html). 

Just to avoid potential misunderstandings: our department in Zurich does not equate “comparative linguistics” with “typology”. We intend  “comparative linguistics” in a broad sense of comparative research that includes various kinds of historical/evolutionary linguistics (qualitative and quantitative), various kinds of typology (again qualitative and quantitative), cross-linguistic psycholinguistics, cross-linguistic anthropological linguistics, and even cross-species comparison of human language with other communication systems. 

In terms of daily research and teaching we don’t see much difference anymore between historical/evolutionary linguistics and typology, so we don’t really care about the traditional associations that the label “comparative linguistics” has. 

Best,

Balthasar