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1. May 2020
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Universal 100: (Adj/Dem/Num) ≥ (Rel/Gen)

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 100: (Adj/Dem/Num) ≥ (Rel/Gen)

Original
Mobility Principle:
(Adj/Dem/Num) ≥(Rel/Gen).

This principle claims that Adj, Dem, and Num are more mobile than Gen and Rel and can move around their heads more easily, producing a serialization which is opposite to that of the adposition to its modifiers (e. g. A N & Prep + NP, N A & NP + Postp etc.)

Standardized
Within noun phrases, adjectives, demonstratives, and numerals are more mobile than genitives and relative clauses insofar as they can appear on that side of a noun which is opposite to the adposition.
Keywords
order, adjective, demonstrative, numeral, relative clause, attributive, genitive, preposition, postposition
Domain
syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
sample of 350 languages in Hawkins 1983
Source
Hawkins 1983: 93
Counterexamples
FP

FP

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One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. Mobility Principle: “” means “greater or equal mobility, where mobility refers to likelihood of deviance from Adposition + NP serialization.”2. Since the 1990s, Hawkins proposes alternative explanations of his universals (see e.g. Hawkins 1993: 234).

    1. May 2020

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