[1][2] He became an assistant instructor at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Comparative and General Linguistics in 1949.
In 1966 Čop became the head of the university's Department of Comparative Linguistics and Eastern Studies.
Čop was made a full member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1976.
[2][3] Čop's research initially focused on Indo-European etymology, especially Greek, but he soon turned his attention to ancient languages of Asia Minor.
Čop helped establish new directions in comparative linguistics and made significant contributions to the development of the discipline.