He received his doctorate in Romance philology in 1956 with the thesis Paralelismos léxicos en los dialectos catalanes directed by Antoni M. Badia i Margarit and published in 1960.

He has been devoted, moreover, to the edition of historical texts (Regiment de preservació de pestilència, by James d'Agramunt, s. XIV, published in 1971) and to the history of the Catalan language, with special attention to etymology.

He has published numerous articles on Catalan linguistics, especially on dialectology (Catalan in general and Majorcan in particular), geolinguistics and etymology; in this field, he has devoted several studies to ictonymia (fish and fishing words); he has participated in many congresses.

He is director of the Linguistic Atlas of the Catalan Domain (ALDC), a research project of the Institute for Catalan Studies on dialect diversity, prepared in conjunction with Lydia Pons i Griera and initiated by Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit, the result of which, a nine-volume work, has been in the process of publication since 1998 and can be consulted on (ALDC).

He is also one of the most prominent members of the Atlas Linguistique Roman team, as well as responsible for the Catalan part of various international research programs in the field of geolinguistics.