Editing Mass comparison (section)

=== A continuation of earlier methods? ===

Greenberg claimed that he was at bottom merely continuing the simple but effective method of language classification that had resulted in the discovery of numerous language families prior to the elaboration of the [[comparative method (linguistics)|comparative method]] (1955:1-2, 2005:75) and that had continued to do so thereafter, as in the classification of [[Hittite language|Hittite]] as Indo-European in 1917 (Greenberg 2005:160-161). This method consists in essentially two things: resemblances in basic vocabulary and resemblances in inflectional morphemes. If mass comparison differs from it in any obvious way, it would seem to be in the theoretization of an approach that had previously been applied in a relatively ad hoc manner and in the following additions:

*The explicit preference for basic vocabulary over cultural vocabulary.
*The explicit emphasis on comparison of multiple languages rather than bilateral comparisons.
*The very large number of languages simultaneously compared (up to several hundred).
*The introduction of typologically based paths of sound change.

The positions of Greenberg and his critics therefore appear to provide a starkly contrasted alternative:

*According to Greenberg, the identification of sound correspondences and the reconstruction of protolanguages arise from genetic classification.
*According to Greenberg's critics, genetic classification arises from the identification of sound correspondences or (others state) the reconstruction of protolanguages.