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Universal 1968:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1968:

Original
In a given language the grammatical categories of the verb (e.g., person, voice, mood, tense, negation) may be carried to a greater or lesser extent by auxiliary verbs or particles which co-occur with the verb. In an extreme case these categories may be carried by a dummy morph which has no apparent lexical meaning at all.
Standardized
In a given language the grammatical categories of the verb (e.g., person, voice, mood, tense, negation) may be carried to a greater or lesser extent by auxiliary verbs or particles which co-occur with the verb. In an extreme case these categories may be carried by a dummy morph which has no apparent lexical meaning at all.
Keywords
verb, inflection, auxiliary
Domain
inflection, syntax
Type
unconditional
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
“widely held assumption”
Source
Ferguson 1972: 79
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    Is this to read restrictively: “… may only be carried by auxiliaries or particles, unless they are carried by the verb itself”?

    1. May 2020

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