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Universal 1827:
- Original
- If a language shows the order RelNoun or AdjNoun in its noun phrase, it is very likely to also show PossNoun, but not vice versa.
- Standardized
- IF a relative clause or adjective precedes the noun, THEN possessives also precede the noun.
- Keywords
- order, noun, modifier, possessive, adjective, relative clause
- Domain
- syntax
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- Bantu languages (with a special reference to Swahili), Romance, Germanic languages, Amharic, (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic)
- Source
- GivĂłn 1971: 405
- Counterexamples
1. Follows from #1831. 2. Cf. Hawkins’ generalization (#176): NGen => NRel, which is equivalent by contraposition to RelN => GenN.