Wir haben also in der Mannigfaltigkeit der Pluralbildung ein gutes Kennzeichen der flektierenden Sprachen gefunden. (Plural allomorphy occurs only in flexive languages.)
Standardized
IF there is plural allomorphy, THEN morphology is flexive.
Keywords
flexion, number, plural, declension class
Domain
inflection
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
languages mentioned in Meinhof 1936, primarily Meinhof’s “Semiten-” and “Hamitensprachen” in comparison with other lgs of Africa and of Europe
Meinhof’s own counterexamples are Swahili and other Bantu languages, which are of the agglutinative type and still have many different plural markers (according to noun class). Noun class (a.k.a. gender) and declension class, however, are different things (see, e.g., German or Latin which have both), though the boundary may be blurred in the Bantu case.
1. The spirit of this universal is apparently: Declension classes occur only in flexive languages. Declension classes cannot be established exclusively on the allomorphy of categories other than Number. 2. “Flektierende Sprachen” according to Meinhof have four characteristics:(i) inflection, i.e. declension and conjugation;(ii) “Bildungselemente, die keine selbständige Bedeutung mehr haben” (i.e., genuine affixes, rather than function words also retaining content word uses);(iii) “Veränderlichkeit des Wortstammes”, especially “innerer Vokalwechsel” (see #1676);(iv) “Mannigfaltigkeit der Pluralbildung” (i.e., plural allomorphy) (see #1673).It is possible, though not mandatory, to read him as claiming that there is an implicational chain among them:(iv) … (iii) … (ii) … (i) That is, his “flektierende Sprachen” are not necessarily “flexive” in the sense of having cumulation, otherwise considered a key property of this morphological type. In actual fact, his prime examples of “flektierende Sprachen” – non-analytic Indo-European, Semitic, “Hamitensprachen” – are.3. See also ##1959, 1960 for further correlates of “flektierend” suggested by Meinhof.
1. The spirit of this universal is apparently: Declension classes occur only in flexive languages. Declension classes cannot be established exclusively on the allomorphy of categories other than Number.2. “Flektierende Sprachen” according to Meinhof have four characteristics:(i) inflection, i.e. declension and conjugation;(ii) “Bildungselemente, die keine selbständige Bedeutung mehr haben” (i.e., genuine affixes, rather than function words also retaining content word uses);(iii) “Veränderlichkeit des Wortstammes”, especially “innerer Vokalwechsel” (see #1676);(iv) “Mannigfaltigkeit der Pluralbildung” (i.e., plural allomorphy) (see #1673).It is possible, though not mandatory, to read him as claiming that there is an implicational chain among them:(iv) … (iii) … (ii) … (i) That is, his “flektierende Sprachen” are not necessarily “flexive” in the sense of having cumulation, otherwise considered a key property of this morphological type. In actual fact, his prime examples of “flektierende Sprachen” – non-analytic Indo-European, Semitic, “Hamitensprachen” – are.3. See also ##1959, 1960 for further correlates of “flektierend” suggested by Meinhof.