Editing Joseph Greenberg (section)

=== Linguistic typology===
Greenberg is considered the founder of modern [[linguistic typology]],<ref>Luraghi, S. (2010) Introduzione, in Crof & Cruise ''Linguistica cognitiva'', Italian edition, p.19</ref> a field that he has revitalized with his publications in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199281251.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199281251-e-001 | doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199281251.013.0001 | year=2010 | last1=Song | first1=Jae Jung | title=Setting the Stage |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Typology}}</ref> Greenberg's reputation rests partly on his contributions to [[synchronic linguistics]] and the quest to identify [[Greenberg's linguistic universals|linguistic universal]]s. During the late 1950s, Greenberg began to examine languages covering a wide geographic and genetic distribution. He located a number of interesting potential universals as well as many strong cross-linguistic tendencies.

In particular, Greenberg conceptualized the idea of [[linguistic universal|"implicational universal"]], which has the form, "if a language has structure X, then it must also have structure Y." For example, X might be "mid front rounded vowels" and Y "high front rounded vowels" (for terminology see [[phonetics]]). Many scholars adopted this kind of research following Greenberg's example and it remains important in synchronic linguistics.

Like [[Noam Chomsky]], Greenberg sought to discover the universal structures on which human language is based. Unlike Chomsky, Greenberg's method was [[functionalist theories of grammar|functionalist]], rather than [[Formal language theory|formalist]]. An argument to reconcile the Greenbergian and Chomskyan methods can be found in ''Linguistic Universals'' (2006), edited by Ricardo Mairal and Juana Gil.

Many who are strongly opposed to Greenberg's methods of language classification (see below) acknowledge the importance of his typological work. In 1963 he published an article : "Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements".