X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Joseph Greenberg


Classification of Japonic

Joseph Greenberg (2000–2002) argued for the inclusion of Japanese in his proposed Eurasiatic language family.

Japanese grammar

The modern theory of constituent order ("word order"), usually attributed to Joseph Greenberg, identifies several kinds of phrase.

Nadahup languages

Macro-Puinavean is included in Joseph Greenberg's larger Macro-Tucanoan stock, but this is generally rejected.

Talodi–Heiban languages

Talodi and Heiban had each constituted a group of the Kordofanian branch of Niger–Congo that was posited by Joseph Greenberg (1963); Talodi has also called Talodi–Masakin, and Heiban has also been called Koalib or Koalib–Moro.

Yanomaman languages

Joseph Greenberg has suggested a relationship between Yanomaman and Macro-Chibchan.


Bantoid languages

Greenberg in his 1963 The Languages of Africa defined Bantoid as the group to which (Narrow) Bantu belongs together with its closest relatives; this is the sense in which the term is still used today.


see also