What are we typologists doing?

An exhaustive linguistic typology is the greatest and most important task for linguistics [...] Only through typology does linguistics rise to quite general viewpoints and become a science (Hjelmslev). In spite of its impressive development in the last forty years, typology seems to be in need of theoretical clarification. In this connection, it is claimed that the Saussurean conception of language may contribute to a better understanding of the foundations of typological research. As for methodology, the major problem is the lack of a secure independent standard for comparing languages. A way out of that difficulty is suggested: it is exemplified by briefly reviewing recent studies on such notions as subject, object, transitivity, voice. In the last sections, a few thoughts are given to the question of the nature of cross-linguistic invariants and to that of the relationships between typological linguistics and cognitive sciences.