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Universal 1122:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1122:

Original
If predicates can incorporate their arguments (i.e., verbs their subjects and objects), then head nouns can incorporate their attributive clauses.
Standardized
IF predicates can incorporate their arguments (i.e., verbs their subjects and objects), THEN head nouns can incorporate their attributive clauses.
Keywords
incorporation, subject, object, verb, attribute
Domain
morphology, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
languages in Humboldt 1836
Source
Humboldt 1836, as interpreted in Plank 1994b: 246
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    This is probably a misinterpretation. Humboldt can also be read as merely observing that incorporating attibutive clauses into head nouns (especially in languages lacking relative pronouns or appropriate complementizers) is also a possibility, regardless of noun/pronoun incorporation into verbs.

    1. May 2020

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