The Nature and Uses of Linguistic Typologies

1. As contrasted with the other two main methods of linguistic classification, the areal and the genetic, typological procedures have tended to an uncertain and marginal status in linguistic science. In view of recent stirrings which appear to indicate renewed interest in typological procedures in linguistics as well as other fields, it seems appropriate to consider the general logic of typological classifications with particular reference to linguistics, to survey the kinds of linguistic typologies both potential and actual, and to evaluate the possible uses of typological analyses. This latter consideration is of particular importance in view of the common imputation of arbitrariness to typological as opposed to genetic classifications in linguistics. It is of some interest to note that the