typologists

Typologists are scholars who study typology, the systematic classification and comparison of natural phenomena into types based on shared features. In linguistics, typologists examine cross-language patterns in structure and use typological data to identify universals and recurring constraints. They categorize languages by features such as word order (SVO, SOV, VSO), morphosyntactic alignment (nominative-accusative, ergative-absolutive), and morphological type (analytic, agglutinative, fusional, polysynthetic). Through cross-linguistic surveys and field work, typologists build typologies that describe what languages can and cannot do, rather than prescribing what they should do. The field relies on large databases such as the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) and on theoretical frameworks that relate typological patterns to cognitive and historical factors. Notable figures include Joseph Greenberg, who introduced influential universals and word-order classifications, and later researchers who expanded typology to phonology, morphology, and discourse features.

Outside linguistics, typology also appears in archaeology and anthropology, where typologists classify artifacts, tools, and pottery into types to interpret cultural change, trade, and technology diffusion. In these domains, typological analysis supports dating and comparative studies. Typologists typically work in universities and research institutes, collaborating with field linguists, historians, and anthropologists. Their work informs descriptive grammars, language documentation, and theories about language structure and human cognition, and it continues to evolve with new data and methods.