Universal 1917:
- Original
- If a language lacks a definite article, it tends to lack (fully) indirect speech.
- Standardized
- IF there is no definite article, THEN there is no indirect speech.
- Keywords
- definite article, indirect speech
- Domain
- lexicon, discourse
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- see comments
- Source
- Schwyzer 1936: 146, referring to Bloch 1934: 21, 313f.
- Counterexamples
1. Cf. #1924.2. It is unclear whether these two implications are meant to be valid for Indo-European only, or more generally for all languages in the area where Indo-European languages are and were spoken (Europe, Asia).