Mass comparison is a method developed by Joseph Greenberg to determine the level of genetic relatedness between languages. It is now usually called multilateral comparison. The method is generally rejected by linguists (Campbell 2001, p. 45), though it has some supporters.
In spite of widespread skepticism about his method, some of the relationships established by Greenberg gradually came to be generally accepted (e.g. Afro-Asiatic and Niger–Congo). Others are widely accepted though disputed by some (e.g. Nilo-Saharan), others are predominantly rejected but have some defenders (e.g. Khoisan), while others continue to be widely rejected and have only a handful of defenders (e.g. Amerind).
The application of mass comparison led Greenberg not only to propose novel classifications but to break apart previously accepted ones. The best-known example is his rejection of the Hamitic language family.
Read more about Mass Comparison: Theory of Mass Comparison, The Disputed Legacy of The Comparative Method, Toward A Resolution of The Conflict?
Famous quotes containing the words mass and/or comparison:
“While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily
thickening to empire,
And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out,
and the mass hardens,”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“Most parents aren’t even aware of how often they compare their children. . . . Comparisons carry the suggestion that specific conditions exist for parental love and acceptance. Thus, even when one child comes out on top in a comparison she is left feeling uneasy about the tenuousness of her position and the possibility of faring less well in the next comparison.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)