Greenberg's reputation rests in part on his contributions to synchronic linguistics and the quest to identify linguistic universals.
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This kind of research was taken up by many scholars following Greenberg's example and remains important in synchronic linguistics.
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Primacy is accorded to synchronic linguistics, and diachronic linguistics is defined as the study of successive synchronic stages.
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In practice, a purely synchronic linguistics is not possible for any period before the invention of the gramophone, as written records always lag behind speech in reflecting linguistic developments.
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Ferdinand de Saussure's distinction between synchronic and diachronic linguistics is fundamental to the present day organization of the discipline.
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The field of linguistics at the time was strongly concerned with synchronic studies of language change, which marginalized historical approaches such as grammaticalization.